Lilium
by HelAuditore
Summary: Zoro and Sanji had known each other since they were just kids and hadn't left each other's side despite their unusual friendship made of fights and rare moments of tenderness. Once they grow up they decide to start a band. They have a dream: going pro. Will they succeed and be able to handle it all? But most of all Will Zoro and Sanji's friendship develop into something more?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I'm gonna have to start this off by saying that I haven't written ZoSan in a lifetime and I've had a huge lack of ideas for this pairing, then this old plot I had thought of years ago (and partly realized but, meh, it sucked) came back to me and I decided to give it a go with the absolutely precious help of my girlfriend - without you I would have written jack, so thank you very much my love

Rating and warnings will eventually be bumped up and added, and I'll make sure to tell you at the beginning of every chapter.

I really don't know what to say besides I'm sorry, and I hope you'll enjoy this first introductory chapter at least a bit.

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**Prologue.**

Live shows always have that magical something about them, be it the dim colorful lights or the smoke concealing the surface of the stage, the way in which the vocalist's voice surrounds you and takes you to another place, a better one, how the guitars enrapture you with their irresistible riffs and how the beat of the drums thrums through your chest and you can't help but jump to that mesmerizing rhythm, forgetting all your problems and pain, unable to feel anything different from pure bliss and adrenaline.

Zoro had felt all these sensations every time he'd gone to a gig, and now that he was the person behind the drum set, the one banging his sticks on the tight skin and setting the rhythm of the song, the feelings had only improved and grown. He lead the music and watched his bandmates doing their best on stage, he saw the fans going mad right below them, jumping, moshing and screaming the lyrics to the top of their lungs and man, if that wasn't one of the most glorious things in life he really didn't know what else it could be.

Zoro told this to himself every single time he had to jump on stage and he knew that that was what he wanted to spend his life doing. Hell, he wanted to die on stage when his time would have come! Zoro lived and breathed music, but when he tried to convince himself that the one and _only_ thing that really mattered to him was his music, his eyes would fall upon the lean, leather-clad figure of his lead singer, or more accurately, his kryptonite.

Sanji's voice was deep and warm, but also hoarse and powerful when needed, he was a natural on stage, the way he moved, sang and interacted with the audience, it was like he was born to do that. Sanji was also a natural born diva and primadonna who appeared vain and shallow but held so much talent and passion that drew people to him, just like honey to bees.

He and Zoro shared the same dream and passion and many times their bandmates and friends joked on the fact that it was probably fate that had driven them together ages before, but they'd just huff and puff, scoff and exchange a couple hissed insults that made everyone groan and roll their eyes. Behind all the growling and barking, though, everyone knew they shared a really strong bond, and Zoro was way too aware of the fact that Sanji was his greatest weakness.

There were times, during shows, when Zoro would be too caught up by some of Sanji's sinful moves, or too upset by the way he'd lick or grind against one of the luckiest fans, that he'd miss a note – even though he'd go back so quickly to the right rhythm that no one would even notice. That very night Zoro messed up twice, and even if he'd hoped that no one would notice, a couple of his bandmates usually did.

The musicians were still playing the theatrical ending of their last song for the night, exaggerating and showing off their skills, when Sanji broke into a dramatic cry of "Thank you so much you guys! We're _Murder Of Crows_ and we hope to see you soon again!" making the small yet extremely crowded venue boom with screams and applause, until the music died down, picks and sticks were thrown to the fans and the band could finally leave the stage.

They hadn't even set foot backstage that their crew whooped and hollered at them in raw excitement.

"You guys did a great job, tonight! Really!" Brook was their self-proclaimed manager, because even if they still weren't pros, for their most hardcore fans they already were.

Brook handed Ace, the guitarist, and Zoro a couple towels to dry off their naked torsos, but before he could add anything else, Usopp and Franky, the roadies, shoved him away bringing beers and bottles of stronger booze.

"It wasn't perfect and you know it," Sanji tucked a blond strand of hair behind his heavily pierced ear "the damn Marimo keeps messing his parts up! The fuck is wrong with you?" he growled around the cigarette he'd just lit up as he glared over to Zoro.

"Fuck off! It happens to all of us, every now and then!" Zoro barked. He had pulled on a Slipknot hoodie, when someone was suddenly at his side, making him jump in surprise.

"Bitch please, I never mess up with my keyboards!" Nami grinned at him as she tied her long ginger hair into a messy top knot.

Sanji smirked at her words "And I'm never off key, just like Ace and Luffy rarely fuck up," he said as he jerked his thumb behind his back, where the two brothers in questions were stuffing their faces with hotdogs. "You're the only one who cannot play your own songs," Sanji simply shrugged as he breathed out smoke from the corner of his lips.

Zoro was used to that abuse, and he knew very well that Nami was only siding with Sanji because it was funny to give her friends some grief, just like he knew that every single one of them wasn't perfect and they all made mistakes during their performances because they were only humans. Still, he couldn't help but fight with Sanji.

"You're never off key? Gimme a break, you shitty singer!" Zoro stepped between Nami and Sanji, inches away from the singer's face as he went on snarling "You're not Jesus Christ, you screw up just like all of us!"

"Apart from me," Nami added as she calmly made her way to her dressing room for a shower and a change of clothes.

Sanji placed his entire palm on Zoro's face and pushed him away, not minding the fact that he had probably got eyeliner all over his fingers. "Stay away from me! You stink, go get a fucking shower!"

"C'mon guys! Don't start this right after such a great show!" Usopp sighed before yelling at Luffy when he stole a huge bite from his slice of pizza.

"They're hopeless," Franky shook his head before taking a big swig of lager.

Zoro slapped Sanji's hand off his own face and went for a shower in order to calm down and not having to murder the little bitch.

"Well, I gotta give it to him," Sanji commented as he watched Zoro marching off "he's pretty obedient."

"Don't..." Usopp squeezed his eyes shut, and just when he did, a flying boot hit Sanji square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"You fuckin'–!" Sanji tried launching himself at Zoro who was still standing there, but Ace held him in place with both his strong arms.

"Christ, give him a break!" Ace groaned as Sanji kept struggling to wriggle away from his grip.

Zoro rolled his eyes and finally went to the showers, even though he could still hear Sanji and Ace bantering.

"Your brother is an asshole!" Sanji barked, and Zoro couldn't help a hollow smirk from tugging at his lips as he stripped off his clothes.

"But you gotta leave him be anyway," Ace replied as he headed to the showers himself.

Zoro had no intention of facing Ace directly, so he quickly stepped into the shower and turned on the water just in time to hear Ace walking into the lockers.

"You don't have to fight my battles, y'know?" Zoro grunted as he lathered his skin with some pine scented shower gel, the one Sanji always complained about because he claimed it made his nostrils burn.

Zoro heard Ace snort and kick off his boots, then the rustling of the brunet shuffling off his pants was partly muffled by his voice "Isn't that what big brothers do?"

Zoro rolled his eyes "No, they can fuck off."

"Rude," Ace commented as the shower turned on "I have no idea how you managed to endure Sanji for all those years, you deserve a medal or something."

Zoro growled and rolled his eyes as he began to wash his green mohawk "You fucking adore him, stop pretending to think he's an asshole just for my sake."

"Well, I actually can do both things, yeah?" Ace paused and Zoro waited for him to go on "you're in love with him and think he's an asshole, who's worse?"

That wasn't Zoro and Sanji's first fight, and it surely wasn't going to be their last one, but things had always worked out just fine the way they had always been, he couldn't stand it when someone had to force themselves between them and preach how things should go.

Zoro rinsed his hair and let out a big huff of air before replying to Ace "I know him, I know how he is. In the end we're both fine with this, we've always stuck together and that ain't gonna change soon," he turned off the shower and stepped out of it to grab a towel "so stop it with the pathetic brotherly advice, it's not cute, it pisses me off." Zoro wrapped the towel around his waist, then used another to rub his hair dry.

Ace remained silent for a few minutes, and Zoro wasn't sure it was out of anger or pain, but he didn't take his words back, he meant them. He could still hear Ace moving under the spray of the water, but it wasn't until he turned off the shower that he spoke again.

"So..." Ace wrapped a towel around his hips "Can I fuck him?" he grinned wide and challenging.

Zoro groaned and threw the only boot he had left right at his brother's face, but Ace ducked it as he had definitely seen it coming.

–

Murder Of Crows were kind of famous, not Iron Maiden famous, they weren't such a big deal yet, but maybe they would be one day. They didn't dream of becoming sellouts, nor did they want their music videos being played over and over on MTV, they wanted to be known worldwide in their scene, like Slipknot or Nightwish, Rammstein or Arch Enemy. Either way, they were already well known as the local underground band along with a few more, and as it usually happened after every concert, once they walked out of the venue, they quickly got surrounded by their ever growing group of fans.

Zoro loved their fans, despite some of them being slightly too extravagant... Well, some of them were definitely creepy.

First of all, there was Bartolomeo, he was completely obsessed with every single member of the band and crew too, he owned every single merchandise item they had sold and had showed them photos of the walls of his room, plastered with pictures and homemade posters of all of them. His appearance was quite singular though, he had green hair (definitely inspired to Zoro's), facial piercings and tattoos all over his body, shaved eyebrows, and last but not least, since he was obsessed with vampires and all that, he had got proper fangs sticking out from under his upper lip. All in all, he was a nice guy who would have fought tooth and nail to defend his favorite band, and always brought presents to all of them. Zoro didn't mind him, he was almost fond of him and his craziness, there was definitely worse than him.

Duval, for example, he was the founder of Sanji's small fan club of idiots, they had a name or so Zoro thought, but he voluntarily forgot about it because it pissed him off to no end. He was way worse than Bartolomeo, because he tried to look and act like Sanji as much as he could, even though he was at least twice his size and not even remotely as charming and attractive as the vocalist.

They also had their fair share of female fans, most of them in love with Ace, and the guitarist could safely claim to have slept with a few of them who surprisingly didn't hold a grudge against him for not ending up together... Well, maybe there were a couple of them who had stopped coming out to their shows for that matter. One of those female fans though, a girl named Hancock, was utterly head over heels for Luffy, not minding the fact that he was way younger than her and that he was completely uninterested in female attentions – well, actually Luffy was asexual and couldn't care less about having a relationship of any sorts with anybody, but no one had the heart to break it to her.

Zoro was really glad that he still couldn't see the creepiest of them all, a girl who was totally obsessed with him and who freaked him out, so he breathed out a relieved sigh and began a casual conversation about his drum kit with an over excited, blushing Bartolomeo, while Sanji was standing right beside Zoro as he spoke to Duval with an extremely annoyed expression painted all over his face.

"I'd love to see you play one of those huge drum sets a bit like Tommy Lee or maybe Joy Jordison, can you imagine that?" Bartolomeo practically squealed in excitement "You'd look so cool hanging upside down while playing!" he clutched both hands into fists and Zoro sniggered.

"Maybe one day, when I'll have the money," Zoro arched a brow and took a sip from the bottle of the finest sake that Bartolomeo had been so kind to bring for him. He could see Sanji side-glaring at him from under his bangs and he couldn't tell exactly why, so he guessed it was only because Duval kept blabbing about the new skin of his website or something like that.

"Oh but I'm sure that will be soon enough! You just need a good contract with an equally good label and you'll have enough money for a new monster kit!" Bartolomeo's grin was all teeth and fangs, but Zoro couldn't return it just as wide.

Surely he believed in his band and their talent, but signing with the big companies wasn't that easy and no matter how much Zoro believed in it, he knew they still had a long way to go. He took another swig of sake as he kept listening to Bartolomeo's rant about drums, slightly covered up by Franky's bark of laughter over something particularly funny that Usopp had said and Duval asking Sanji for the fifth time if he had just called him handsome, when something (or rather someone) happened.

It was a bit like in the movies, it happened in slow motion, or at least that's how Zoro's mind had registered it. Sanji jumped slightly to his left and bumped into Zoro's side, startled as an unsettling, ghastly and annoyingly high pitched laugh suddenly bubbled from right behind Duval and Bartolomeo. Zoro knew that laugh and so did Sanji, even Duval and Bartolomeo knew it very well and couldn't help but groan when two hands were placed on each of their faces, pushing them aside as a girl in a black and white Gothic Lolita outfit appeared and stroke a pose in front of both Zoro and Sanji.

"You thought I missed the show, huh?" the girl bursted into another giggle, covering her mouth with her tiny hand, her long, pink piggy tails swaying gently as she tilted her head back "I could never not come out to see my favorite teddy bear!"

Zoro's blood froze into his veins. He really had thought he had escaped her, his one seriously creepy fangirl with the teddy bear kink.

"Oh fuck, no!" Zoro practically threw Sanji at her and bravely hid behind him.

"Oi! You bastard!" Sanji snarled from over his shoulder, then his expression changed completely when he turned back to smile at the girl "Don't mind him, Perona. You know he's a brute!"

Perona sighed "I know, he's always running away from me like a mad man," she shook her head, then looked at Zoro from over Sanji's shoulder "you should learn some manners!"

Zoro muttered a few curses under his breath and Sanji went on, a muffled laugh was barely hidden in his voice "She's right, shitty Marimo! You should treat your girlfriend with more respect!"

Zoro would have punched the idiot right there and then, but the last thing he needed was causing unnecessary commotion, so he just growled and rolled his eyes "She's not my girlfriend! Why don't you go out with her, since you like her so much?"

Sanji sighed and took Perona's hand in his "I love beautiful, sweet ladies but I prefer different company," he singsonged as pressed a quick, soft kiss to Perona's hand that made Zoro huff.

"Aw, you're really nice Sanji, but the teddy bear suit wouldn't look as good on you as it does on Zoro!" Perona looked at a horrified Zoro with dreamy eyes.

Zoro shook his head way too vigorously and his earrings clicked together a few times "No, he'd look perfect with that shitty costume on! Just annoy him, not me!" he cried out in desperation. Why couldn't he have Duval instead of Perona? He would have coped better with a fansite, that teddy bear obsession was just grotesque.

"I don't want Sanji, I want you!" Perona shrieked out, making both men cringe and basically everyone around them stare in surprise.

"For fuck's sake..." Zoro breathed out as he rubbed his forehead.

"Well, I'll leave you two doves to this lovely discussion," Sanji excused himself as his eyes were fixed somewhere near the emergency exit of the venue "I'll call it a night." Sanji smirked and lit himself a cigarette as he strutted into the direction he'd been staring at.

Zoro furrowed his brows and followed Sanji with his gaze, not even noticing that Perona was clutching his arm with both hands and completely unaware of the fact that she was still talking to him, all Zoro could see was Sanji approaching a finely dressed man that went by the name of Rob Lucci.

Zoro watched as Sanji spoke a few words to the man, blowing smoke in grey-blueish coils, until he decided it was time to whisper something definitely dirty into his ear. It was then that Lucci's face turned a bright shade of pink and all it took was a small flick of Sanji's tongue against the shell of Lucci's ear and they were walking off, probably in the direction of Lucci's car.

"Are you even listening to me? Why can't you just pay attention to me?!" Perona whined and tugged a bit too hard on Zoro's arm, making him turn to look at her with a dark, dangerous gaze. She let go of Zoro's arm right away and backed off, half scared and half disappointed.

"Hey," Franky placed a hand on Zoro's other arm "c'mon Zoro, let's go have a drink, yeah?"

Zoro knew that the rest of his friends had seen everything and knew perfectly what was going on in his mind, he was an open book to them, sometimes, and he hated it. He turned to look at Franky and felt everyone else's gaze burning on his skin "Shouldn't the kids go home? They got school tomorrow..." Zoro never refused to go drinking, still he felt responsible for the youngsters of the gang.

"Shut up, we're not kids," Nami rolled her eyes and wrapped her arm around Usopp's neck "Let's just go."

"Yeah, we're old enough to stay up a while longer," Usopp smirked, his confidence had probably been boosted by simply having Nami's arm around his neck.

"I wanna get wasted!" Luffy threw his arms into the air and hopped on Ace's back, making him huff.

"Like fuck you are! Zoro's right, you got school tomorrow." Ace chastised him.

"Yohohoho! You're all terrible college students!" Brook shook his head as he pulled out the keys to his van "Let's go!"

Zoro grinned, thankful for having the extremely supportive friends he had, still he couldn't help but look once more in the direction where Sanji had walked off.

"Can we come too?" Bartolomeo and Duval asked in unison.

Luffy grinned widely at them "Sure!"

"Well, what about me?" Perona asked as she stepped closer to Duval and Bartolomeo.

"No, not you." Zoro grunted as he followed Brook.

"Sorry little sister, let's not piss him off more than he already is!" Franky sniggered as he winked at her.

And as everyone walked away, Perona was left back, fuming and shouting insults.

_**To Be Continued...**_

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_**A/N:** _Murder Of Crow's sound is basically melodic/symphonic metal with a hint of industrial gothic, even though my main inspiration for them is Nightwish.

Zoro, Ace and Luffy are siblings, yeah, and Ace and Luffy are blood related - if you're confused do not worry, my friend, things will be explained throughout the story. I just really needed these three to be brothers, alright? Alright.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Zoro blinked his eyes open the morning after the concert he groaned and had to burrow his face into the pillow as a pounding headache threatened to split his forehead open.

He didn't have the strength nor the willpower to check the time, but he had a few certainties: he couldn't hear Luffy moaning about how much he wanted to skip school, so he was certain that Luffy wasn't home; he couldn't hear Ace playing the damn Game Of Thrones opening theme on his guitar, as he did almost every morning just to piss the whole house off, so he was certain that Ace had gone to work already. Now, these two certainties lead to the scariest one: Zoro was late for work, yet he was too hungover to hurry the hell up and get out of bed.

The funny thing is that Zoro had a very high alcohol tolerance, which made it nearly impossible for him to get pissed drunk, so the night before he had either emptied his whole wallet just to get wasted, or he and Nami had probably started a drinking contest that had resulted in loads of free drinks, since usually even the bartender wanted to see how far they could go – thing that had happened way too frequently. He definitely hoped in the second option since he didn't want to be broke because of booze.

Zoro rolled on his back and carefully opened his eyes again to stare at the dark ceiling as he tried to dig into his memories from the night before. He did have some small and vivid ones, like Franky being three sheets to the wind, taking off his pants and standing on a table only in his speedo as everyone yelled at him that the 80s were over and he sure as fucking hell wasn't Tommy Lee. He remembered Bartolomeo leaning into his personal space and making him so uncomfortable that Ace and Luffy had to physically hold him back from punching the guy's teeth in. He remembered Nami disappearing into the toilets with that cute girl with blue hair and– Ah that was it! That's what had reminded him way too much of Sanji sauntering off with Lucci, that's what had triggered his exaggerated drinking! And then she had come back to their table with that smug grin on her face and had challenged Zoro to a drinking contest.

"Son of a bitch..." Zoro rubbed at his eyes with the back of his wrist and hoped to God that the house was really completely empty, but then he remembered it was still only Wednesday. Fuck, they needed to stop playing gigs during the week.

The door of his bedroom creaked open and the light from outside filtered in, blinding and painful to Zoro's sore eyes, making him groan and press the spare pillow into his face.

"You're late," a deep, hoarse voice came from the threshold and Zoro knew it could only belong to his adoptive father. The grim one.

"Fuck off," Zoro muttered into the pillow and curled on himself. He heard a sigh and the stomping of boots, then the pillow was ripped off his grip, making him groan again.

"Just get up, you bull."

Two fingers tugged softly on Zoro's septum piercing, making him raise his head from the bed to glare up at the stoic figure towering over him.

"Are you hungover?"

"No, I'm peaches." Zoro muttered as he finally found the strength to sit up and swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He yawned, scratched the back of his head and then tried to idly tame the few bangs that were sticking up into different directions.

"Shanks heard you and the guys coming back at four in the morning, stumbling and muffling your laughter."

"Listen," Zoro began as he scrubbed both hands over his face, then looked up at the piercing yellowish eyes looking back at him "I'm sorry we made Luffy drink, we won't do it again on a school night."

With a sharp eyebrow quirked up and burgundy silk clad arms folded against his broad chest, Mihawk tilted his head, his expression not changing much from his usual frown "You better."

Zoro furrowed his brows when Mihawk didn't budge, he thought he would have left the room right after scolding him but when he acted like that there was always something more, something he wanted to say but he obviously couldn't. He wasn't really worried about Luffy, the kid was probably just an excuse, so Zoro sucked in a deep breath and nodded "I'm fine."

A crease formed between Mihawk's eyebrows and he looked like he had just been informed that the earth wasn't round "I know?"

Zoro failed to bite back a tiny smirk "Good."

Finally Mihawk made his dramatic exit, so theatrical that had he been wearing a cape Zoro would have probably heard it swoosh on his way out.

–

Zoro showered and dressed as quickly as he could, hoping to God that he finally had the house only to himself once he'd left the bathroom. He rushed downstairs, nearly missing a step and flying face first on the marble, his head was still torturing him so he was planning on popping a couple aspirins on the way out, but he wasn't as alone as he thought.

"Well, good morning!" the red haired man standing by the counter smiled at him from over his coffee mug.

"Hey Shanks," Zoro cursed mentally and dropped his sports bag on the floor only to search the drugs drawer.

"The pills you're looking for are right next to your bowl of cereals and anti-hangover shake," Shanks sipped his coffee with such a proud look on his face.

Zoro knew that Shanks loved being a father, acting protective and cool, always looking out for his kids, even Zoro who was his stepson, but sometimes he was just too much, especially when he radiated vitality and happiness at 9:40 in the morning and Zoro just wanted to dig his own grave.

Zoro glared down at the empty bowl, the milk jug, the bag of cereals, and a glass filled with a nasty looking substance. He picked up both aspirins and bravely decided to swallow them down dry.

"You dumbass, you're gonna suffocate! Drink something at least!" Shanks chastised him with a frown and a huff.

"You know I prefer tea, and like hell I'm drinking your hangover remedy shit! It tastes like ass!" Zoro growled as he shouldered his bag, ready to leave.

"It'll help you!" Shanks insisted "Besides it does not taste like ass, it's quite nice!" he continued with a more hushed tone.

Zoro shrugged "It's nice to people who like eating ass."

"Zoro!" Shanks cried out as the young man made his way out of the kitchen, then Zoro heard him speak again once he'd opened the front door "You'd definitely like it then!"

Zoro widened his eyes at first, then shook his head and left the house sniggering under his breath.

–

Even though the band's goal was to make music for a living, until the day in which they'd get a contract they all had to either go to college (like Nami, Luffy and Usopp) or work, using a few spare hours in the evening or night to practice and perform live.

Zoro had two jobs, a morning part-time one as a personal trainer in a gym and in the afternoon he worked as a kendo instructor at Mihawk's dojo.

That morning Zoro was supposed to train one of his most annoying customers during the first two hours of work, and he really hoped he wouldn't give him too much grief for being horribly late.

When he arrived at the gym Conis the receptionist gave him a worried look as he threw his badge at her to check in.

"Are you alright? You look awful, are you sick?" she asked with her eyebrows drawn in concern while she checked him in for the morning and returned him the badge.

Zoro was staring at her with furrowed brows all the while "I'm perfectly fine. I just woke up late, that's all!" he shrugged as he pinned his badge to his previously worn uniform.

Conis nodded in understanding even if Zoro could tell she hadn't completely bought it, still he had no time for chatting so he rushed to the lockers. He quickly changed his shoes and turned the septum piercing upside down inside his nose to hide it. Once he'd reached the workout area he found his customer already lifting a few pounds on his own.

Zoro sucked in a deep breath and stepped over to the bench "Hey, Paulie. Sorry I'm late, I just–" he was kind of glad that he didn't have to go through with his excuses, because Paulie dropped the barbell and sat up all of a sudden.

"I had to keep myself busy or else I would have exploded!" Paulie barked and Zoro saw a few heads turn into their direction.

"Shh, keep your voice down!" Zoro raised his hands in order to hush the flushing man sitting in front of him.

"All those girls! Look at them!" Paulie went on, gesturing wildly around the room "Why do they have to dress like this? They're so provocative! They should cover up!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and folded his arms over his broad, toned chest then jerked his head towards the couple young ladies running on the treadmill "Women are allowed to dress how they please, and they're only working out so–" he briefly pointed to the leg press "gimme three sets of thirty, same weight as usual."

Paulie looked outraged for a few moments as he stared at Zoro with his mouth slightly hanging, then turned an even brighter shade of red and spun around to reach the leg press, leaving Zoro to mutter under his breath.

–

Zoro's lunch-break arrived earlier than he realized, that's why Conis had to walk up to him and let him know that his friend had arrived with his food while Zoro was advising a girl on her weight training. Zoro excused himself and followed Conis to the reception where he found Sanji sitting on top of the desk with a shit eating grin on his face and a box in his lap.

"Are you all sweaty and stinky, shitty Marimo?" Sanji asked as he chewed on a piece of gum, then looked at Conis "I always smell good." he winked at her.

Zoro rolled his eyes as he watched them giggle together, then slapped Sanji's knee "Get off the desk, idiot."

Sanji glared at him "No need to get scrappy," he grunted as he held the box and slid off the desk.

Zoro slipped on his hoodie and began to walk outside, hearing Sanji spill some cheesy nonsense to Conis as he followed him outside to their usual bench in the small gym courtyard.

"You went drinking last night?" Sanji asked as he spat out the gum and lit himself a cigarette.

"Yeah," Zoro shrugged as he opened the box with the food Sanji had prepared for him.

It was their special little ritual: since the gym was only a block away from the restaurant Sanji worked at, they'd spend their break together and Sanji would bring Zoro freshly made food.

"Sabaody?" Sanji kept asking.

"Nah," Zoro shook his head and stabbed a few macaroni with his fork "that place near Franky's shop," he said casually as he stuffed his mouth full.

"Ah, yeah. I fucked one of the bartenders there... That guy... What's his name..."

Zoro choked on his food and it threatened to shoot out of his nose, so Sanji promptly patted him on the back.

"What the fuck are you doing? You can't even eat now?" Sanji huffed as he kept his hand between Zoro's shoulder blades.

Zoro coughed and tried to clear his throat as much as he could and managed to croak out a "Fuck off!"

Sanji rolled his eyes "Well, try not to inhale your food again," he chastised Zoro, then took a deep drag of tobacco. "It's been a while since the last time I got drunk," Sanji sighed as he stared off into the distance and chewed distractedly on his thumbnail.

Zoro snorted "Not really, you got wasted three nights ago and you kept saying you were afraid of going home because your old man could have killed you." he watched as Sanji's head snapped back in his direction.

"Well, that's still a while," Sanji shrugged, taking another puff "Next time you go drinking I'll tag along."

Zoro nodded as he chewed his food, not really answering. It really didn't make a difference if Sanji went out drinking with him and the rest of the guys or not, because the outcome would always be the same – Sanji would constantly find some arguably attractive guy who he hasn't fucked yet and he'd end his night at the person's place. Sometimes the guy would tell him that he could only have a quicky in the toilet or the backseat of his car, so in that case Sanji would come back to his friends reeking of sex and making Zoro's stomach twist uncomfortably more than usual.

"So last night I finally saw Lucci's house, he really is as rich as they say," Sanji started with a smug smirk as he lit up another cigarette.

Zoro still wondered how a chain smoker like Sanji could still sing the way he did.

"And he really does fuck like an animal!" Sanji wriggled his only visible eyebrow and sniggered.

Zoro pulled a face "I don't give a shit about how he fucks!"

Sanji raised his eyebrows "No but really, he had me pinned against this huge french door," he explained as he gestured for something larger than a normal window "I was completely naked, facing the street and he just–" he placed his hands at the same height as his hips and began to thrust them with his lower lip tucked between his teeth.

Zoro groaned and threw the empty box at him "Stop being gross and just piss off back to work!"

Sanji dodged the box just in time, then shot Zoro a deadly glare "Don't you dare ruining my work clothes."

"Ruined or not they suck anyway." Zoro shrugged as he rose from the bench.

"Fuck you! I cannot wear leather and studs at work!" Sanji chewed immediately (out of habit) on his lip in the exact same spot where his labret piercing usually was. He wasn't allowed to wear any piercings at the restaurant and needed to keep his roughly shoulder length hair in a ridiculous bun.

Zoro smirked "Do you have to take off the tongue one too?"

Sanji stuck out his tongue at him, revealing that he was still wearing that one at least "How could I? This thing drives guys insane!" he grinned and Zoro rolled his eyes "What about you?"

Zoro showed him his pierced tongue and a pleased expression painted Sanji's features. They had got matching tongue piercings when they were sixteen because they wanted to be absolutely badass, and had regretted the couple of weeks of eating only cold and soft food.

"Too bad you don't pleasure anyone with that, it's gonna go rusty. Like your dick!" Sanji clicked his tongue and Zoro kicked him in the shin "Ow! You fucker!" he pulled a face and returned the kick that Zoro had been definitely lucky to dodge.

"Go back to work. I gotta go too." Zoro stuffed his hands inside his pockets and walked backwards towards the door of the gym.

"You're an asshole!" Sanji growled as he got off the bench and picked up the empty box from the ground.

"Right back at you!" Zoro turned around and entered the gym, raising a hand in goodbye as he prepared himself for another hour at the gym before going to the dojo.

He could still hear Sanji's poorly muffled insults, but he chose to ignore them, and he had just got back to the workout area when his phone buzzed with a text.

_'dont forget practice tonight, you shitty marimo head'_

Zoro smirked down at Sanji's text and quickly replied:

_'im not as dumb as you, shitty cook'_

He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and politely greeted the girl who was approaching him for the next training session.

–

From the moment in which Murder Of Crows had made it into the underground scene of their city the band had started practicing every day (when possible) in Franky's garage.

Franky himself had turned the garage into a proper soundproof room and equipped it with everything the band needed: amplifiers, microphones, mic stands, spare instruments, a Mac they could use to edit their recorded tracks, and a fridge always stocked with beer, water and sodas. It was their little piece of heaven and it made them feel like they were already famous.

When they all arrived at Franky's he had got pizza for everyone and Sanji was already complaining about seeing it in reverse if he dared eating and then singing, but no one was really listening to him as they shoved pizza slices into their mouths like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow.

"You guys are pigs," Sanji rolled his eyes as he took a drag of tobacco.

Zoro, who was sitting right next to Sanji, had to wave off the smoke that had been blown pretty much all over his face "You don't eat 'cause you've gotta sing, yet you sit here smoking like a fucking chimney." he grunted as he took a bite from off his slice.

Sanji cocked an eyebrow, carelessly flicking ashes all over the floor "Do you have a problem with my smoking?" he asked in a challenging tone.

"As usual." Zoro replied without looking at him.

"Better throwing up pizza than one of your rotten lungs," Luffy suddenly cut in with his mouth full of food, making everyone cry out in disgust.

"You're fucking gross!" Nami groaned as she slapped Luffy on the back of the head.

"My lungs are far from being rotten, thank you very much!" Sanji barked as he nonchalantly threw a leg over Zoro's lap.

"Yeah right, and I'm the queen of England." Zoro muttered as he looked down at Sanji's leg. He never knew whether he should complain about how often Sanji deliberately forgot about the existence of personal space when they were one next to the other or not.

Everyone snorted or sniggered and Sanji moved his hand towards Zoro's forehead to tug on a strand of wet, green hair "The queen of England would never dye his hair green, and she would definitely dry her hair before going out."

Zoro slapped Sanji's hand away "Well sorry _dad_, I was in a hurry."

"When you two doves are done cooing," Nami started, shooting Zoro and Sanji a glare "I'd really like to know where the hell is Brook. How come he isn't here? He was supposed to play the violin with us, tonight!" she asked as she cleaned her hands with a tissue.

Zoro just sighed and pushed Sanji's leg off his lap to stand up and get a can of beer that he perfectly knew Sanji would have sipped on, then returned to his seat to drink in silence.

"He's stuck working at home, he's preparing an exam for his conservatory students or something." Franky nodded as he finished off his can of coke.

"Wouldn't wanna be his student, man." Ace commented with his eyebrows raised.

"He loves to scare them _so_ much, I wouldn't wanna sign up for that either." Usopp added as he took a bite off his third slice of pizza.

"Can we start practicing, already?" Sanji whined as he snatched Zoro's beer, spilling lager all over him.

"Shithead! Couldn't you just wait for me to actually swallow?" Zoro snarled as he looked down at the wet patch on the front of his shirt and on his lap.

"'Course not," Sanji hummed into the can. Zoro was ready to punch him right there and then, but someone always had the decency to stop them from jumping at each other's throat.

"Alright! Don't start fighting or I'll have to kill both of you!" Nami growled as she stood up and tied her hair back into a ponytail "Let's do this," she nodded and took place behind the double keyboard.

Most of the times it looked like Nami was the true leader of that bunch of scalawags.

Zoro glared at Sanji one last time receiving another deadly glare in return, then stood up to sit at the drum kit. Had they been alone Zoro was sure that it would have ended in bruises and blood, but they were all there to practice and so it wasn't time to throw punches and kicks.

Everyone got to their positions, while Franky and Usopp got comfortable in their seats to enjoy the show once again, never really able to get tired of the talent of their friends.

They had decided to add a few covers of their favorite songs to update and change their set list a bit while they worked on writing and composing new original songs, so the song they had practiced the most during the evening was Nightwish's Storytime. Sanji and Nami had come up with a nice vocal arrangement that fit Sanji's voice range perfectly, while Nami's backup vocals reminded a bit more of Anette Olzon, and Zoro and Ace had worked on adjusting the music to their needs.

"Are you gonna wear a skirt and a corset to sing this one?" Ace teased as Sanji was scribbling on his lyrics sheet.

"You never know, I'm always full of surprises," Sanji shrugged, not lifting his eyes from his paper as he spoke.

Zoro did his best not to let out any strangled sound but his cheekbones had definitely pinked up, because Ace was staring at him like he was about to burst out laughing. The last thing Zoro needed as a distraction was Sanji cross-dressing, damn him and that other bastard of a step-brother he had.

"Are we gonna go drinking?" Luffy asked with a grin that threatened to split his face in two.

"Why are you so eager to become an alcoholic just like your moss-brain brother?" Sanji asked as he put his things into his messenger bag with methodical precision.

"I'm not an alcoholic, you bastard!" Zoro snarled as he threw his drumsticks into his bag.

"That's right, you're a saint." Sanji smirked as he shouldered his bag on, ignoring Zoro's glare.

"So are we going or not?" Luffy whined, pouting as he realized that no one was paying much attention to him.

"I'm going to Vivi's, so count me out." Nami announced casually as she untied her hair and combed her long fingers through it.

Zoro frowned over to her, but before he had a chance to open his mouth Sanji was already speaking.

"Who the _fuck_ is Vivi?"

"She's the girl you hooked up with last night, isn't she?" Franky smirked knowingly at the girl, but Nami shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Yeah, it's her."

Right, the blue haired girl from the bar, the one she dragged into the toilet, Zoro knew he couldn't remember her name. That was a first though, to see Nami seemingly interested in someone so much to see them a second time.

Zoro couldn't help but look over to Sanji who looked somewhat shocked by the news. There was no denying that Sanji preferred men over women, but Nami had been the last of Sanji's girl crushes, and maybe he didn't know how to deal with that. But really, in the end Zoro had pretty much no idea about what was really going on in Sanji's mind most of the time.

"She's still gonna pay to see us live." Sanji warned as he lit up a cigarette.

Nami scowled at him "What are you implying?"

"Just 'cause you two are fucking it doesn't mean that she can watch us perform for free." Sanji rolled his eyes as if he found it extremely irritating that he had to explain himself.

Zoro was glad that since the second year of high school Sanji had stopped screaming, drooling, jumping and all in all embarrassing himself in front of girls, but what he had just said was just too much, too unlike him and Zoro was pretty sure he wasn't the only one confused there.

"Of course she's gonna pay her ticket! We're not married, you idiot!" Nami looked ready to kick Sanji's ass, but all she did was shrug on her coat and leave without a word.

"What... What just happened here?" Usopp blinked, clearly not believing what he had just witnessed.

"She just... Left?" Luffy cut in with the same bewildered expression.

"Without punching his face in?" Franky finished their list of questions.

"Can we fucking go?" Sanji groaned as he put out his cigarette on the floor with the heel of his boot.

"Are you done dropping cigarettes all over my garage?!" Franky yelled all of a sudden.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Sanji cried out in exasperation as he left the garage, too.

Everyone was left behind frozen, unable to speak again or move outside, and Zoro definitely didn't need Ace's eloquent look to know that he had to speak to Sanji. It wasn't the exact moment to do it though, it was better to let Sanji cool down a bit before trying to put some sense into his stupid skull.

The car ride was far from quiet, since there was just no way to make Luffy, Usopp and Franky shut up, not even when it was more than needed, but maybe it was better off that way, too much silence would have ticked Sanji off even more.

Zoro was sat right next to the blond and his leg was pressed flush against Sanji's in the limited space of Franky's backseat, which was rare since Sanji loved to get at least a limb over Zoro. Sanji's brow was pressed against the window and Zoro couldn't tell if he had his eyes open or not.

That was weird. Well actually everything Sanji had been doing the past few minutes had been odd and Zoro wasn't exactly sure why, though one thing he was sure of... There was going to be more room in Franky's car on the ride home.

When they arrived to Sabaody, Franky, Usopp, Luffy and Ace launched themselves at the counter, showering Shakky in greetings and compliments before ordering a drink. Sanji was just about to go over there himself but Zoro placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him backwards.

"What do you want, bastard?" Sanji growled through gritted teeth, looking back at Zoro from over his shoulder.

"We need to talk," Zoro began, his voice was low but firm.

"We don't," Sanji bat Zoro's hand off his shoulder, but Zoro promptly grabbed his wrist instead "leave me the fuck alone!" Sanji tried to wriggle away but he couldn't.

"You've acted like a dick with Nami," Zoro cocked his head slightly "that's not you. Why did you do that?"

Sanji's eyes widened and his cheeks suddenly flushed red "That's none of your damn business!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow "It actually is, yes. Especially when it concerns my friends and it could affect the band."

When the word _band_ was uttered Sanji visibly stiffened and his gaze dropped to the floor. That's when Zoro knew that he could let go of his wrist without having to run after him through the entire club.

"Listen, I know you're too fucking stubborn to tell me why you treated her like shit, but you gotta apologize to her, Sanji." Zoro folded his arms over his chest, adamant.

He wanted to know what had gotten into Sanji more than anything else, but he knew his pride, he knew how he didn't like to talk feelings (about as much as Zoro didn't like to get sentimental, no matter what) and he wasn't going to tear a confession from him, but the last thing he wanted was to lose Nami because of his stupid, childish behavior.

Sanji was still staring at the floor, clearly unable to hold Zoro's gaze and ashamed for what he'd done. Sanji used to be different from how he was nowadays and Zoro kind of missed it. If Sanji were to lose his respect and adoration for women, then what else would happen? Maybe he'd stop pestering everyone while trying to get them to eat healthy? Stop cooking... Stop _singing_? No, Zoro wasn't going to allow that.

"Oi, are you listening to me?" Zoro chucked him under the chin, his fingers grazing Sanji's goatee in the process.

"I _am_ listening, you moron!" Sanji snapped as he finally glared up at Zoro.

"You gonna apologize?" Zoro repeated. He needed to be sure.

"Yeah, yeah..." Sanji muttered as he stared off at nothing in particular, just to avoid looking at Zoro again.

"Call her. _Now_."

Sanji looked up at Zoro like he was the most stupid person he'd ever met (even though he thought that very often) "Right, while she's banging her girl!" he shook his head and fumbled with his pocket to pull out a cigarette and his lighter.

Zoro threw his head back "Just do it, for fuck's sake!" he groaned exasperated.

"Climb out of my ass, Marimo!" Sanji nearly yelled in return, and Zoro was sure that he was just going to cover him in insults and walk away "I'll do it!"

"Why can't y–!" Zoro stopped mid-sentence as he processed what he'd just heard "Wait, you will?" he furrowed his brows, puzzled.

Sanji rolled his eyes and pulled out his cellphone "Yeah, but _not_ 'cause _you_ asked," he muttered as he searched for Nami's number through his contact list.

Zoro blinked "'Course not..." he licked his chapped lips, watching as Sanji brought the phone to his ear and waited.

"Hey, Nami... Hi," Sanji looked briefly at Zoro, then down at his boots "no, no! Don't hang up, please! I just... Wanted to..." he lowered his voice and turned his back on Zoro, walking somewhere more private to finish his conversation.

Zoro let out a relieved sigh as he followed Sanji with his gaze, seeing him flailing his free hand as he spoke a bit more animatedly. Well at least he could still speak some sense into that blond head of his, that was something.

Zoro walked up to the counter and ordered plain vodka just to start out the night, losing sight of Sanji on purpose and trying to keep himself busy speaking to his friends until everyone decided to hit the dance floor. It was then that Zoro saw Sanji again all smiles and flirtatious attitude as he ground against a random dude. Zoro had the sudden impulse to crash the glass he was holding in his hand, but a familiar voice made him snap out of his thoughts.

"He has quite the effect on men, eh?"

Zoro turned to see an old man laugh beside him. It was Rayleigh, the owner of the club, he wasn't always around but he really liked Zoro and the others, so he often spoke to them.

"Yeah," Zoro grunted and decided it was best to just set the glass on the counter "he's become some sort of a men's magnet ever since high school," he shrugged as if it didn't matter as much as it actually did.

"Well you must be the manliest of them all, then."

Zoro quirked up an eyebrow, quizzically.

"You're the one he has the greatest effect on!" Rayleigh patted Zoro's shoulder and sneaked off.

"For fuck's sake!" Zoro groaned and facepalmed so hard that he probably left a mark on his own face.

_**To Be Continued...  
**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

After the infamous night when Sanji snapped at Nami for apparently no solid reason, Sanji had apologized profusely for at least two or three days, baking all kinds of cupcakes, muffins and cookies for her and for Vivi as well, sending her flowers every morning with a stupid poem attached to the bunch and just being incredibly stupid and pathetically sappy during band practice.

The world was back at peace, or so it seemed, and Zoro could definitely see that Sanji seemed to be back to his regular self – even though the singer didn't appreciate it much when Nami brought Vivi to practice once and Zoro had to do his best to convince Sanji not to make a scene again.

Things were good, Murder Of Crows had three show scheduled, two during the weekend and one was set for the week after on a Wednesday. They could have definitely done without another concert in the middle of the week, but the offer of a gig could never be turned down, so they sucked it up and went with the flow.

The fans appreciated the new set list, they had liked the four covers they had come up with, even the most unexpected one, an IAMX song that Sanji sang only accompanied by Nami's keyboards and Zoro's drums that goes by the title of _I'm terrified_ – it wasn't exactly Murder Of Crows style, far from it, still they had made it theirs, made it believable and people had liked it.

Duval, Bartolomeo, Hancock and Perona were present to all three shows, congratulating the band on their incredible choices and beautiful performances, and on Wednesday night, after the concert, they all got invited to drink with the band, even Perona who wouldn't stop shrieking into Zoro's ears and Hancock who was all over Luffy who thoroughly ignored her.

After such a busy week, on a Friday night Zoro, Ace and Luffy decided to be so hardcore that they stayed home for a Breaking Bad rewatch marathon eating pizza and drinking beer on the couch, despite Shanks' protests.

When the food was finally over, they were well into episode four of the first season, and Ace and Zoro were sitting sprawled on the couch while Luffy was lying down on it with his head in Zoro's lap, the doorbell rang.

"Dude! Are they serious?" Ace growled as he glared at the front door, visibly outraged that someone dared interrupting their fun.

Mihawk and Shanks, who were playing chess after their seafood dinner, lifted their eyes from the chessboard to glance from the door to the boys.

"Who could it be now?" Shanks frowned as he pushed back the chair in order to stand up.

"Was any of you expecting someone?" Mihawk asked with an impassible expression and a monotone.

Zoro shrugged a shoulder "We didn't invite anyone over," he replied as he turned to look at Ace for confirmation.

"Yeah, we didn't." Ace shook his head.

"I'll get it!" Luffy shouted as he sprung to his feet and sprinted towards the front door before his father could even move.

"Pause it." Zoro sighed and Ace grabbed the remote to pause the DVD player, leaving Walter White frozen with his mouth hanging open as usual.

They heard the door being opened and everyone moaned and grunted about how Luffy always forgot to ask who it was first. There was a muffled chattering, then Luffy cried out in joy before marching back into the living room.

"Tada! Look what the cat brought in!" Luffy sniggered as Sanji stepped into the living room beside him with a backpack hanging from his shoulder.

"Hey there!" Sanji greeted with a smile and a raised hand "I was hoping I could maybe stay the night?"

Zoro's heart skipped a beat and his brain didn't quite process everything when it should have. It wasn't exactly the first time Sanji asked to spend the night, since they had basically known each other all their lives, still Zoro wasn't expecting to see him there, not with that tired and somehow bashful look on his face.

"Ah, Zoro's boyfriend is here!" Shanks teased and Zoro hoped to whatever deity that he wouldn't turn red as a damn pepper, while his brothers sniggered mercilessly.

Mihawk sighed, clearly used to that kind of situation "You either sleep on the couch or in Zoro's bed," then he turned to Zoro "unless you take the couch and give him your bed."

By then, Zoro was sure that he had been a murderer or some other sort of horrible criminal in his past life to deserve all of that.

"Like fuck I'm giving him my bed!" Zoro barked out as he folded his arms and glared at a random spot to his side.

"We can sleep in the same bed," Sanji said simply, and Zoro saw him shrug as he lifted his eyes on him again "we've slept together before, it's not a problem."

Ace let out a snort of laughter and Zoro couldn't help but elbow him in the ribs.

Mihawk seemed pleased with the answer, but Luffy was sulking right next to Sanji.

"Why don't you sleep with me? You've never done that!" Luffy whined as he hung his head.

"I'm not sleeping with a trout," Sanji huffed "a trout who kicks like a donkey, too." he rolled his eyes ignoring Luffy's complaints and strutted over to the couch, dropping his backpack before plopping down on the spot next to Zoro. "My feet are killing me." he sighed as he kicked both legs over Zoro's lap.

"That was my spot!" Luffy cried.

"Well now your spot is on the floor!" Sanji snarled.

"Have you come here to disrupt our peace and quiet?" Zoro asked as he watched his little brother sit on the carpet.

"That's my job," Sanji grinned, then looked over at the screen "You were rewatching Breaking Bad without me?!" he cried out in horror, then stared at Zoro "You're a horrible person!"

In response to that, Zoro simply pushed Sanji's legs off his lap "Stay out of my territory."

Ace and Luffy laughed like idiots, but Sanji only rolled his eyes and slung his legs back on Zoro's lap.

The marathon went on until nearly 2 am, with the aid of caffeine and ice cream. Mihawk and Shanks had gone to bed not too late after Sanji's arrival, and the blond didn't fail to make a dirty comment about that, receiving a series of groans and a couple pillows thrown to his face in response, as he laughed his butt off.

Zoro was quite concerned about Sanji sleeping in his bed, especially now that his raging, historical crush on him was at its climax, and especially when he saw him dragging himself out of the guest bathroom in a Sisters of Mercy shirt that was at least two sizes too big for him and a pair of tight black boxers that left very little to the imagination.

"I'm going to bed, guys," Sanji announced to the boys still sitting on the couch before yawning into the back of his hand "come whenever you want, I doubt that you'll wake me." he said as he turned to Zoro.

"Ah, he'll be coming soon, I'm sure!" Ace cut in with a shit eating grin that Zoro was going to take care of later.

"Whatever," Sanji scratched the back of his head and stretched out his arms "'night, you jerks." and with his last line Sanji walked upstairs to Zoro's room.

Zoro made sure to hear the door being shut, then slapped Ace over the chest with as much force as he could, leaving him out of breath and making Luffy jump in surprise.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Ace cried out as he held his chest "God!"

"The fuck is wrong with _you_, man!" Zoro growled as he glared at his brother "Stop dicking around like this, it's only funny to you!"

Ace looked at him puzzled "What are you even talking about?"

Zoro widened his eyes "Tell me you're joking, or I'll knock your teeth out!"

"Calm down, guys! C'mon!" Luffy sighed as he stood up "Let's just all go to bed!" he sighed as he rolled his eyes.

Some times Luffy was the most adult of them all.

Ace stood up, still rubbing the sore spot on his chest "Touchy, much?"

Zoro decided to ignore him and go upstairs before the others did. Deep inside he knew he was clearly overreacting, but this behavior seemed like it was never going to end and Zoro wasn't exactly sure that he could endure it. He loved his adoptive brother (well he loved both of them) like he were his own blood, but there had to be limits that he shouldn't cross.

Once he had arrived in front of his bedroom door he hesitated, with his hand on the doorknob, as he heaved a sigh and finally opened the door to step inside. He tried to be as quiet as he could not to wake Sanji up and took off his clothes, throwing them over a chair that was already overflowing with t-shirts and jeans.

"Mmhey..." came Sanji's sleepy voice from under the duvet, making Zoro jump slightly and whip his head around to look at him so quickly that he nearly snapped his neck.

"Fuck! You scared me!" Zoro grumbled as he walked up to the bed and climbed under the covers.

Sanji snickered and burrowed his head into the pillow "'Msorry..."

"I thought you were sleeping. Did I wake you?" Zoro asked, lying on his back as he stared up at the moonlit ceiling.

"No. Well kinda," Sanji shrugged a shoulder "I wasn't properly sleeping yet." he replied before yawning into the pillow.

"How come you..." Zoro didn't exactly know how to end his question. Did he want to be a snarky bastard or not? Either way Sanji let out a long breath and shut his eyes.

"Zeff kicked me out," he began "for the night at least... He doesn't even want to see my face down at Baratie."

"Shit," Zoro frowned and turned his head to look at Sanji who had pulled the duvet over his nose. "What did you do to piss him off, this time?" he arched a sharp eyebrow.

Sanji rolled his eyes "He's pissed by default and you know it." he brought his knees to his stomach and pressed both of them into Zoro's thigh "Same old, same old. I came back home hammered last night and apparently I threw up on the floor..."

Zoro bit both of his lips really hard not to laugh at his friend's misfortune, but both his shoulders and chest were already trembling so he just gave in to a throaty laugh that earned him a slap on the chest.

"You're a shitty friend, you know that?!" Sanji growled as he rolled on his other side.

"No! No, I'm sorry!" Zoro placed a hand on Sanji's shoulder and tugged on it to make him turn around again "It is funny though, c'mon! Did you puke right on his shoes?"

Sanji didn't move, but he did reply "No... I just barfed on the hallway floor and went to bed."

Zoro laughed again, long and hard as he threw an arm over his eyes and the other held his stomach. He rarely laughed like that, and he really couldn't say he hated it.

"Stop laughing, you bastard!" Sanji growled lowly, kicking Zoro's shin with his heel.

Zoro felt the hit and it did hurt, because that damn idiot had an inhuman strength in his legs, but he didn't even flinch, instead he rubbed his eyes as his laughter died down and allowed him to breathe and clear his throat.

"So why are you here?" Zoro finally asked "Couldn't you find someone to fuck and stay the night at theirs like you always do?"

There was a brief moment of silence and a sigh so soft, yet exasperated, that was probably meant to be left unheard, then Sanji spoke "There was nobody interesting enough around, so I came here."

Zoro was kind of expecting an answer like that, still it stung a bit making him frown in the penumbra "Thought so." he sighed as he let his limbs relax and his eyelids drop shut.

Sanji turned in one sudden motion and threw an arm over Zoro's chest, pressing his nose softly against his shoulder and keeping his eyes shut.

Zoro remained frozen. He hadn't seen that coming, especially not after that exchange, but Sanji was unpredictable and rarely readable, and Zoro couldn't really complain about having Sanji half curled around him.

Silence fell upon the room, not awkward just relaxed, but Zoro couldn't sleep, not when Sanji's breath curiously matched his own, not when Sanji had chosen to spend the night in his best friend's bed instead of a stranger's after a fight with his father.

"You still haven't told me why you snapped at Nami, last week." Zoro tried, after nearly two minutes of deafening silence.

Sanji groaned into Zoro's shoulder and singsonged "_Blame it on my A.D.D._"

Zoro huffed, rolling his eyes "Fuck off, I'm serious!" leave it to Sanji to find songs lyrics that fit every situation he was in.

"I just did, okay?" Sanji sighed "No particular reason, you know how I get sometimes," he shrugged a shoulder "I just lost it."

Zoro wasn't exactly buying it, because he knew perfectly that he would never snap at a girl just to throw a tantrum. Sanji definitely had a reason to act like that but of course he didn't want to talk about it.

"Well you better control yourself more," Zoro humored him "next time Nami might kick your ugly face in."

Sanji let out a fake laugh and absentmindedly started drawing random patterns on Zoro's skin, making him shiver slightly. Sanji liked to do that kind of things, his cuddliness used to bother Zoro at first but he'd learned to accept and like that particular side of him, it was endearing after all, and ever since Zoro had come to realize what his true feelings for Sanji were he couldn't really say he hated that.

"Won't your boyfriends be jealous if I get all your cuddles for myself?" Zoro teased.

Sanji snorted "What boyfriends? You know I don't do boyfriends," Zoro could just hear the eyeroll in those words "also, why would I cuddle any of them? All I need is between their legs." he scratched Zoro's skin softly "Plus you should know I'm not cuddling you, 'cause you're gross and I hate you."

"Of course, I hate you too." Zoro shook his head and placed a hand on Sanji's shoulder, squeezing it softly.

Sanji hummed and kept quiet for so long that Zoro thought he had fallen asleep, but then he came back to life with a sleepy voice.

"Zeff says I'm a good for nothing shitty son," Sanji slurred out "he has a point? Besides singing for our band I'm not that useful. What would I be if I couldn't even sing?" the hand that lied flat on Zoro's chest balled into a fist as Sanji waited for an answer.

Zoro furrowed his eyebrows at those words. Sanji was usually full of himself, at least that's what he wanted people to think of him, because it was so much easier to appear like that than to show his true colors – those that only Zoro had seen. Sanji only allowed Zoro to see him like that, and only when he really needed it.

"Well... You're annoying, for starters." Zoro began.

"Shithead," Sanji muttered as he hit his fist into Zoro's chest.

"You're also a rude little shit." Zoro smirked, relishing Sanji's annoyed groans.

"You're a useless moss-brain, you know that?"

"I thought it was _you_ we were talking about." Zoro arched an eyebrow.

"Nevermind," Sanji grumbled as he placed his hand flush on Zoro's pecs and let out a big sigh.

Zoro sniggered quietly and only after a handful of seconds he went on speaking. "You're useful, you damn idiot. Without your voice you're still a cook, you can feed people."

"Yeah, wow." Sanji said in a monotone.

Zoro ignored Sanji's lack of enthusiasm and went on "You can fight. Not as well as I can, but..." he shrugged.

"Shut up, I can kick your ass anytime!" Sanji yawned and hummed, getting more comfortable on the mattress.

"And..." Zoro hesitated, because he wasn't the praising type and speaking nicely about people made him uncomfortable, especially if that person was Sanji. "Well, fuck it." he sighed "You've been my best friend since when we were like 6, so yeah... You matter, and you're definitely useful to me."

Only saying those things made Zoro feel exhausted and he was actually waiting for Sanji to either laugh or insult him, or maybe both things at the same time, but he heard none of these, just a soft, nearly inaudible snore.

"Oi... Did you hear me?" Zoro looked down at Sanji, not getting a response.

The bastard was asleep. Of course he was asleep! Damn him! But that was probably for the best, so he hadn't heard jack of what Zoro had admitted. Yes, it had to be for the best.

Zoro had tried to ignore the extremely uncomfortable swelling at the front of his boxers the entire time that Sanji lounged half atop of him as they spoke, praying to the entire Norse Pantheon that the blond hadn't noticed. Well, Zoro was sure that if Sanji really had noticed he would have teased him to death, so maybe he was safe.

Zoro gently peeled Sanji's limbs off his body, careful not to wake him up as he slid out from underneath him and climbed out of bed, watching as the blond squirmed and curled on himself.

Once he was out of bed Zoro suddenly regretted the lack of warmth that Sanji's body radiated on his own, so he promised himself he was going to be quick. He just needed the bathroom and then he could sleep, nothing too hard about that... No pun intended.

Zoro sneaked out of the room, controlling his strength as he shut the door without making excessive noises, then padded his way to the upstairs bathroom. He really thought (or rather hoped) that no one was still up by then, but apparently the odds were pretty much never in his favor.

The door of the bathroom cracked open and a yawning, heavy lidded Ace dragged his half asleep limbs out of the room.

"Shit." Zoro muttered under his breath.

"Oh, hey there," Ace smiled sleepily "crowded place." he joked despite having his eyelids struggling with the rest of his body to stay open.

"Looks like it." Zoro shrugged a shoulder and tried to squeeze by, but apparently Ace was in the mood for chatting in the dead of the night.

"So how is it going with lover boy?" Ace gave a crooked grin as he rubbed one of his eyes.

Zoro huffed "He's sleeping," he nodded in the direction of the bathroom "I need to piss, go back to bed."

"That bad, huh?" Ace chuckled, hanging his head and as he did so he saw the world from a different prospective "Oh God..." he pointed at the bulge in Zoro's boxers.

"Wha-?" Zoro asked annoyed, then his eyes dropped immediately on his temporarily forgotten erection "Fuck!" he cried out as he tried to cover himself "Leave me alone, you bastard!"

Ace laughed and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder "You're not gonna find condoms there, I can lend you a couple if you want." he teased with a shit eating grin plastered on his face.

Zoro shoved him aside with a growl as he stomped towards the bathroom.

"Hey, hey!" Ace protested with a frown as he was roughly pushed aside, and Zoro turned to look at him "Since you don't wanna go there... Can I use my condoms with Sanji, then?"

"Fuck you!" Zoro snarled as he shoved his brother so hard that he fell on his butt. Zoro threw the door shut and rested his forehead against it, breathing long and slow in order to calm down.

It was the second time in a single night that Ace deliberately ticked him off and Zoro was starting to think that he had a death wish.

Zoro looked down at his boxers and sighed, he wasn't rock hard as before, still he needed to take care of it before going back to bed.

He shoved his hand down the shorts and grabbed himself, a soft, shuddering breath abandoned his lips as he thumbed at the tip. He didn't really have any time to waste, so he just tucked his lower lip between his teeth and stroke himself, brow pressed against the cold, wooden door and being as silent as he could.

Zoro came hard and quick, biting back Sanji's name and cursing when he saw the mess he'd made. He took in a deep breath, cooling down before cleaning up and spraying his face with cold water, then he left the bathroom and went back to his room.

Crawling back into bed felt pretty much like heaven, even if the mattress was small and hard, having Sanji's smell all over the sheets made it ten times better. Zoro rolled on his side facing the other man, he couldn't help watching him sleep peacefully with the duvet curled tightly around him. Zoro sighed and let his eyelids drop shut, smirking slightly when he felt Sanji's leg move to settle over his own.

"Marimo..."

"Mh?" Zoro hummed in reply without opening his eyes.

"Don't you dare snoring, you bastard." Sanji muttered as he slid closer to Zoro.

"Shut your mouth and sleep, you idiot." Zoro replied with a huff as he threw an arm over Sanji's shoulders.

"You're heavy!" Sanji whined, not moving a single muscle under the weight of Zoro's arm.

"'Mnot, Zoro yawned "g'night."

"Night."

–

_The night was hot and sticky, and Zoro could smell blood. As he looked down he could see he was covered in it and the good thing was that it wasn't his own. He was leading an army that was just coming back from a battle in the dead of the night, his legs felt heavy and his arms were sore._

_When he approached the encampment many people cheered both he and his troops, he smirked proud and kept walking until he reached the biggest tent of the camp, guarded by two men armed with spears and shields. He was allowed to go inside, and as he walked past the threshold he heard screeching and a heavy flutter of big wings._

_In the middle of the tent, sitting on a big, high chair was Sanji with long silver hair and a white silk dress. Beside him were three dragons that reminded Zoro all too well of Luffy, Usopp and Franky._

_"Kha-" Zoro furrowed his brows as he thought his words through "Khaleesi?"_

_Sanji arched a brow as he stroke the biggest dragon's head. "Oh, you've returned."_

_Zoro nodded, a small hopeful smile curling his lips "It went just like you said it would, we attacked them and they yielded almost right away!"_

_Sanji waved his hand in a dismissive manner "Good, good. But where is Ace?"_

_Zoro's smile dropped from his face instantly, his hopes crushed and burnt as he saw Ace walking past him and getting down on one knee._

_"I'm here, my queen."_

_The smile that appeared on Sanji's face was that of true happiness and it made Zoro's heart ache so much that he couldn't breathe. He dropped his helm as he vaguely saw Ace walking up to Sanji, and when the two kissed everything became a blur._

Zoro jerked awake as if someone had poured a bucket of ice on him. He sat up panting, and pressed a hand on his chest where his heart still hurt slightly.

"What the–" he muttered as he turned his head and found Sanji sleeping with his mouth open and his limbs sprawled all over the bed. Zoro scrubbed a hand over his face, then combed his fingers through his mohawk as something dawned on him "Jesus, I'm the Knight of the Friendzone." he cried as he lied back down.

–

Both Zoro and Sanji had forgotten to roll down the shutter the night before, so in the morning a ray of sunshine woke Zoro up, making him groan and pull the covers over his head.

"The shutter..." he growled with his eyes still closed as he rolled on his other side "You shithead, you didn't close it."

When he didn't get an insult or a kick as a reply, Zoro finally realized that Sanji wasn't there. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. Sanji's backpack was still in a corner, at least he hadn't left the house.

Zoro sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his wrist and yawning like a hippo. He couldn't believe that Sanji wouldn't sleep in on a Saturday, not even when he wasn't supposed to go to work.

There was a sudden knock on the door and Zoro furrowed his eyebrows at it "Yeah?"

The door opened and Ace poked his head inside "Morning, sunshine!" he smirked.

Zoro rolled his eyes "Does your face miss my fist or something?"

"Yeah, so much!" Ace nodded towards the bed "Can I come in?"

Zoro arched an eyebrow "No, not really. Why are you being creepy?"

Ace huffed and rolled his eyes "I just want to apologize, c'mon!"

Zoro frowned "Are you drunk?"

Ace groaned and just entered the room, shutting the door behind him and sitting on the floor across from Zoro "I shouldn't make jokes when Sanji's present, nor pester you about him too much, I'm sorry."

Zoro pressed his lips together and nodded "And you came to this conclusion all by yourself?"

Ace ignored Zoro's reply and went on "Sanji's been in the kitchen since 6 a.m., I think? He made the biggest breakfast ever and Luffy is still downstairs eating it!" he laughed, shaking his head.

That food freak seriously woke up at 5 in the morning when he could have slept at least 'til 7 or 8? Zoro didn't think it was normal, not even for Sanji. "And you're up here instead of pigging out in the kitchen?"

"This should be enough to tell you what an amazing brother I am!" Ace grinned "So, how'd it go last night?"

Zoro stared at him dead in the eye "You're kidding, right?"

Ace threw his head back with a groan "Come on!"

Zoro shook his head and stood up to put on some sweatpants and a t-shirt nearly stepping on Ace in the process "What do you think that happened? We spoke a bit and then we slept, that's all!" he growled as he pulled on the t-shirt.

Ace sighed and rested back against the leg of the desk "You're a gentleman. Other guys would have jumped him, being in your shoes."

Zoro shot him a glare "You better not be talking about yourself!"

Ace's eyes grew wide and he immediately waved his hands in denial "No! No, no, no! Every time I imply something is just a joke!" he shrugged "Just to piss you off!"

Zoro arched an eyebrow "And you do a damn good job at it." he scratched the back of his head as he thought, then let his arms fall back along his sides "I don't wanna be like the other guys... Even if he's an annoying asshole I respect him too much to do anything stupid."

Ace nodded as he listened to him, then he cocked his head "And getting into his pants isn't exactly all you're aiming for." he smiled softly when Zoro didn't say anything, but a soft blush tinted his cheekbones.

"You know what, you jerkoff?" Zoro suddenly spat as something came back to his mind "I had this dream in which Sanji was Daenerys Targaryen! He had dragons and shit... And you were fucking Daario Naharis and..." he paused, looking down at his bare feet "I was Ser Jorah."

Ace stared up at his brother for what seemed like ages, then fell on his side as he laughed so hard that Zoro thought he was going to have a fit.

Zoro cursed at himself mentally for telling him and shook his head as he watched Ace squirming and crying from laughter "Are you gonna stop dying or what?" he barked out in embarrassment.

Ace didn't stop laughing but he did push himself up to his feet, and as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder he squeezed it "Ser Zorah, Knight Of The Friendzone!" he bursted once again and had to use Zoro as a support not to fall on his knees.

"Fuck you, Ace!" Zoro growled as he pushed his brother aside and walked out of the room, leaving Ace to laugh on the floor like an idiot.

The moment in which Zoro was halfway down the stairs he was suddenly surrounded by the delicious smell of Sanji's food.

How could he possibly think that he was a good for nothing when he could sing and cook the way he did? Zoro was aware of the fact that he never complimented him, but then again it wasn't in his nature.

Once he arrived to the kitchen, Zoro lingered on the threshold, just to get a look of what that room looked like when Sanji was in control.

Mihawk was sitting at the table reading the newspaper and occasionally sipping on his coffee, sitting across from him was Luffy who kept wolfing down every food within his reach. Shanks wasn't around, he was probably down at the dojo since Mihawk was still at home, being a lazy butt, and maybe Shanks was also a little jealous to have someone so much better than him taking care of his men's stomachs.

Zoro couldn't help but smirk at that thought, and as he finally settled his eyes on Sanji he couldn't help but lean against the doorjamb and sigh. He was nearly elbows deep into the sink as he scrubbed pans and dishes, his long hair slipped from behind his ear and fell to cover half of his face, but his hands were wet and he obviously didn't want to get his hair soaked too.

"Sanji, these are the best pancakes I ever ate!" Luffy cried with his mouth still full of bacon pancakes.

Zoro saw Sanji's face light up and the hint of a smile curved his lips.

"Of course, you're not used to eat healthy, nourishing food." Sanji replied in a monotone as he kept a cigarette between his lips.

"Oh but Shanks tries," Mihawk commented as his eyes never left the newspaper "God, does he try." he sighed as he flipped the page "Son, are you done lurking from the door? It's rude."

Zoro stiffened and widened his eyes, and at the same time Sanji and Luffy turned to stare at him.

"Morning, Zoro! Come here, Sanji made bacon pancakes!" Luffy greeted him with a huge smile and a forkful of food in his hand.

"Good morning, you lazy fuck." Sanji greeted without looking at him.

Ah, nothing like Sanji's kindness to start out a great day. Zoro didn't answer to anyone and went to sit next to his brother who all but threw an arm around his neck and pressed a sloppy kiss to Zoro's cheek.

"You snail! Quit drooling on me!" Zoro grunted, but failed to bite back a tiny smirk.

"You like it, shut up." Luffy responded with a smile as he sneakingly tried to steal Mihawk's french toast.

"Do it and you're gonna have to play bass with your feet." was the low threat that came from behind the newspaper, and Luffy gave up on his attempted theft.

"Don't you ever feel full?" Sanji commented as he placed a plate of pancakes and a mug of tea right under Zoro's nose.

Luffy snorted and tried to steal one of Zoro's pancakes in response, but Sanji was quicker to slap his hand away.

"You've been eating since the moment you stepped in here, enough!" Sanji barked making Luffy flinch and Zoro roll his eyes.

"Stop shouting, you're already giving me a headache!" Zoro growled as he threw one of his pancakes into Luffy's empty dish.

"Thank you, Zoro! You're the best brother ever!" Luffy sniggered as he began to eat the pancake with his hands as if it were a cookie.

"Why'd you do that?!" Sanji slapped Zoro on the back of his head.

"I'm supposed to be the best brother! What's all this about?" Ace asked as he stepped into the kitchen with both hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans.

"God, is impossible to bear with you lot," Mihawk huffed as he slammed the newspaper on the table "and I hoped you'd get more quiet growing up, what was I thinking?" he stood up to leave the kitchen and not too long after they heard the front door slamming shut.

The boys had remained there, frozen into the positions they had assumed when Mihawk raged out, their eyes widened in surprise.

Ace was the one to break the ice "I bet he regrets this family like twice a day."

"He only regrets having had to deal with Shanks' brats for all these years." Zoro commented as he finally started eating.

"Hey!" Luffy and Ace cried in unison.

Sanji rolled his eyes and lit himself another cigarette "He's just sick of every single one of you," he exhaled some smoke in a thin line "and your friends."

"I'm sure he loves all of us," Luffy cut in with a full mouth "he just needs some space, every once in a while." then he jerked his head in Zoro's direction "Like father like son."

Ace sat on the empty chair across from Zoro and lifted his eyebrows "He has a point."

Zoro rolled his eyes and Sanji snorted.

"What's so funny?" Zoro asked, not even lifting his eyes to glare at Sanji.

"You've been with Mihawk all your life, you really took after him," Sanji shrugged "even if he's your foster dad and you'll never admit it."

Zoro threw his head back groaning "What's with the dad talk, now? Fuck off, already!"

"See?" Sanji grinned "Just like Mihawk!"

"And you're an ass just like Zeff!"

"You shithead!"

"No! No! If you break something Shanks will kill both of you!" Ace cried as Sanji knocked Zoro's chair back and they both ended up wrestling on the floor.

"Breakfast with a show!" Luffy laughed, stuffing his mouth full as he watched Ace trying to break the fight.

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N**_**: **Thanks to all of you guys who left reviews and read this story! I'm glad some of you are actually enjoying this ;)

Guess I'll have to bump the rating up a bit because there's some mild sexual contents in here, still nothing too graphic but you never know. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Sanji ended up spending the entire weekend at Zoro's. Everyone was more than happy to enjoy the quality cooking they got in return for their hospitality. Yes, even Shanks, who didn't like having his kitchen and cooking duty stolen, in the end really appreciated what Sanji did.

Murder of Crows only practiced on Saturday night to get some well deserved rest from an intense and productive week, but the brothers called rain check on going out for drinks since they wanted to save some money.

Sanji wasn't happy about the decision. Being in the same room with Nami and Vivi for more than two hours, and for having ignored at least ten calls from Zeff stressed him out and all he wanted to do was getting wasted and fuck. Zoro had told him that he could have gone ahead without them, he would have also given him the keys to their house in case he wanted to be stay for long, and that was when Sanji decided that he could definitely do without a couple wild nights.

On Monday morning Sanji decided it was time to face Zeff (and no, not because Zoro had insisted he'd do it) so he shouldered his backpack, thanked Mihawk and Shanks for their hospitality a few too many times and left their house.

Even if he'd kept waking up at the ass crack off dawn like he was used to, Sanji felt somewhat regenerated, be it the homey environment he'd lived in for the past couple days, or just being with his friends, or probably having avoided to stay out all night. He was ready to go back to work, hell he needed to work or else he would have gone mad, waiting for practice that night all day long.

Sanji decided to take his sweet time walking in the crispy morning air, a hand firmly buried into the pocket of his leather jacket and the other brought up to his lips as he puffed on the third cigarette of the day. Or maybe it was the fourth? He couldn't tell.

The streets were already trafficked and a few bikes threatened to make him fall as they sped past him on the sidewalk, the sky was hazed by a few clouds and he really hoped it wasn't going to rain. He didn't particularly like rainy days, they made him moodier than he already was and that morning he wanted to be a bit serene at least.

Sanji stopped right outside the front door of the Baratie to admire the elegant wrought iron door and the sign he had helped his father paint when he was younger, then moved towards the door that was just a few meters away from the restaurant. He pulled out a bunch of keys from an inner pocket of his jacket and unlocked the door.

Sanji had lived with his father in a beautiful apartment right above the restaurant all his life. It was always tidy and clean, no matter the fact that the two men worked a lot and didn't spend much time at home – they wanted it to be as impeccable as their kitchen down at Baratie.

Sanji shut the door of the apartment behind his back. He contemplated whether he should just go to his room and get ready to wash the dirty clothes he had inside his backpack, or walk up to the kitchen where he was sure that Zeff was having breakfast.

Apparently he never had to make that choice, since Zeff called out for him as soon as the door clicked shut "Son, is that you?"

Sanji rolled his eyes "No, it's a burglar. I'm here to steal your ceramic knives." he announced as he decided to at least drop his backpack into his room before going to the kitchen.

"You'll have to tear them off my cold, dead hands." came Zeff's hoarse, sarcastic reply.

"Don't tempt me." Sanji sighed as he tied back his hair into a ponytail and finally went into the kitchen.

"Why didn't you return my calls, you stupid Eggplant. I thought you were dead." Zeff glared at him from above a steamy mug of coffee.

"If you really thought that you'd have called the cops." Sanji deadpanned as he poured some coffee for himself.

"I called Mihawk, that equals calling the cops."

Sanji almost dropped the cup as he turned around to stare at Zeff "You did what?!" he yelled out in a semitone higher than usual.

"I was worried! And you little shit wouldn't talk to me!" Zeff shrugged "What was I supposed to do?"

Sanji raised his eyebrows "Fucking nothing! You wanted me out of the house and I did! You should have been happy!"

Zeff shook his head "You're such an idiot."

Sanji gestured towards Zeff "I take after the best." he muttered as he focused on stirring his coffee. Suddenly a flying spoon hit Sanji in the forehead, making him squirm and glare at his father.

"I should have thrown the entire table at you but I'm having breakfast." Zeff explained calmly as he sunk his teeth into a croissant.

"Stupid Old Fart, you could have chipped the mug!" Sanji muttered before taking a sip of his warm coffee.

"I have an impeccable aim, I would have never hit the mug and you know it," Zeff went on and took a bite of croissant as he started checking the list of things that needed to be bought for the restaurant that day. "Have you been eating?" he asked as his eyes didn't leave the paper.

Sanji furrowed his eyebrows at that question "Uh, yeah?" he hitched himself up on the counter and placed both hands on the mug, relishing the heat radiating from it.

"Yeah. You got a better color than usual." Zeff wore his reading glasses and started editing the list here and there "You usually don't eat enough and drink too much."

Sanji snorted and rolled his eyes "That's bullshit!"

"It's true," Zeff raised his eyes from the paper to look at Sanji from over his glasses "and get your ass off the counter!"

Sanji ignored that last part and just kept sipping his coffee.

"You're an adult, Sanji. Quit being a fucking idiot and take some responsibilities." Zeff continued, his tone was harsh and made Sanji want to fling the mug at his face.

"I _am_ a responsible adult," Sanji began as he set the mug down on the marble surface of the counter "what the fuck are you talking about?" he grimaced.

Zeff huffed and took off his glasses "I'm talking about the fact that you're supposed to be a sous-chef not a party animal, you damn Eggplant."

Sanji's jaw dropped slightly at those words "Are you saying I'm not doing my job right?" he asked as he pointed to himself "I bust my ass all day at the fucking restaurant, I'm a great cook! Don't you dare judging my skills as a chef by what I do outside of the workplace." he pushed himself off the counter.

"Watch it, young man," Zeff warned, lifting a threatening finger at him.

"What?" Sanji spread his arms, challenging "You wanna fire me? On what basis?" he cocked his head slightly "Being butthurt?"

"You little shit!" Zeff stood up so suddenly that he nearly knocked back the chair "You should be grateful for having a job and a roof above your stupid head! And if you do keep heading down this way I _will_ fire you!"

Sanji listened to him with a hollow smirk tugging at his lips "Do you really think I'm gonna rot in this house? You think I'll work in that shitty restaurant for my entire existence?" by the end of the sentence he was practically yelling "I'll be a famous singer one day, and that day you'll be kissing my ass!" and with that last growl Sanji left both the kitchen and the house, ignoring the incoherent shouting coming from behind him.

After slamming the door shut behind him, Sanji lit himself a cigarette with shaky hands, his breath was itching in his chest from the anger that was still thrumming through his body.

Zeff had never been the most tender father ever, just like Sanji wasn't the easiest son, and Sanji knew his father cared about him but he had a pretty detestable way to show it. Maybe it was because they were too much alike, both so stubborn and proud, Sanji could still remember his mother laughing at their stubbornness and then bringing peace between them again. Had she still been alive things would be so much easier. Had she still been alive things would be so different – Sanji and Zeff themselves would probably be different.

Sanji rubbed at his forehead, trying to ease the headache that was threatening to start pounding in his head and let the nicotine have its calming effect on his body. He checked his phone, it was barely 10:30 and he already needed a drink. Sanji muttered a few curses and dragged himself to next door – at least he could take it out on his colleagues and the pieces of meat he was going to have to chop or tenderize.

–

The morning went painfully slow, between stupid arguments with his colleagues and restocking the pantry, and all Sanji could think was venting to Zoro during lunch break and going to practice that night. He was nervous and annoyed, so much that he could fill his skin itch – he needed a nicotine fix really bad.

"Oi, stupid assholes, I need a smoke. Don't burn the entire place down." Sanji growled as he moved to the backdoor of the restaurant. He ignored the insults that were thrown back at him and pulled his phone out of his pocket while he took the first drag of tobacco.

There was a text from Zoro.

_'how'd it go with the old geezer?'_

Sanji snorted and typed up his answer.

_'i wanna smash my head into a wall'_

He hit send and tipped his head back, exhaling the smoke and watching it coil up towards the sky. God he really needed to scream his lungs out into his microphone, drink half his weight in booze and get his brains fucked out, it was the only way to get his skin to stop itching like that.

_Buzz-buzz._

"Well that was fast." Sanji grumbled to himself as he checked his phone again.

_'that bad huh? i gotta train a dude in five minutes, guess you'll tell me more at lunch.'_

Sanji couldn't really help the small smile that curved his lips. Zoro was a fucking neanderthal most of the times, but Sanji's sanity depended on him more than he cared to admit.

_'you only think about your wallet and stomach. later, moss-brain.'_

Sanji stuffed his phone back into his pocket and took a deep drag of tobacco. He needed to think about what he could bring Zoro for lunch that day – maybe some rice, it was the Marimo's favorite food after all, maybe that Beef Pilau Rice recipe he'd been talking about with Patty a few days ago.

And as Sanji finished off his cigarette he kept flipping through the imaginary pages of the recipe book in his head, completely forgetting about the itch on his skin without even realizing it.

–

Sanji had dodged meeting his father at the restaurant as he sneaked out with Zoro's food from the backdoor, he didn't have the energy for another fight and he sure as hell didn't want to waste his time.

He arrived to the gym's backyard at the usual time, so he hopped on the bench, lit himself the umpteenth cigarette of the day and waited for Zoro to come out.

Sometimes when he sat there in that yard he remembered when he and Zoro were younger and reluctantly hung out in the elementary school courtyard.

Everyday it was always the same situation and no one seemed to notice or care enough to change it. A group of bullies would come over and make fun of both of them: Zoro for being an orphan adopted by his godfather, moody and weird, unable to speak with anyone other than Sanji; and then they'd push Sanji around, telling him that he looked like a girl, that Zoro was his boyfriend and that he probably looked like a girl because he was such a mommy's boy.

Those were memories he wanted to erase permanently from his brain. Sanji had been bullied through all his childhood, unconditionally hated by pretty much everyone except for that weird moss head who stuck with him through thick and thin for so many years, and fuck him if Sanji knew how and why all of that happened.

"Oi, is it a stroke?"

Zoro's hoarse voice brought Sanji back to reality, making him realize that he had spaced out for longer than he thought, especially when he realized that his cigarette had turned into nothing but a small pile of ashes on the concrete ground.

"What?" Sanji asked scrunching his face as he looked up at Zoro.

The Marimo arched up an eyebrow "I thought you died or something, you weren't answering." he shrugged a shoulder.

Sanji flicked away the burnt out end of his cigarette "What the fuck are you talking about? I'm more alive than you'll ever be!" he growled as he thrusted the box of food into Zoro's hands.

"What's this?" Zoro asked as he peeled off the top of the box.

"I shat inside a box!" Sanji groaned "It's food, what do you think it is? See it for yourself!"

Zoro stared at him for what felt like ages, then hit him in the head with the clean side of the box top "Calm down or you'll have a heart attack."

Sanji felt the urge to knee Zoro in the face but restrained from doing so "Get off my back, okay?" he fished a cigarette from the packet and brought it to his lips to light it up "Everyone's taken up residence there, apparently." he watched as Zoro frowned down at the rice and poked the meat with his fork "It isn't poisoned, you dumb shit."

Zoro didn't move his eyes from the food and stabbed a piece of meat with the fork, bringing it closer to his eyes to examine it "I wouldn't be so sure, you're the culinary Heisenberg." he ate it quietly, savoring it and trying to figure out what it was.

Sanji smirked as he watched him eat "Or I could be feeding you the flesh of my enemies."

Zoro's expression didn't change and he just shrugged a shoulder "Your enemies taste nice."

Sanji sniggered and took a deep drag of cigarette, letting it fill his lungs as he looked up at the clouds and the milky color of the sky. He exhaled the smoke in long drawn out sigh, then relaxed against the back of the bench.

"So, why did you want to smash your head into a wall?" Zoro asked, still focused on his food.

Sanji turned his head to look at him and took another puff of tobacco "He says I don't act like an adult enough, then threatened to kick me out of the house and fire me," he shook his head as he stared down at his feet "I don't even know, I stopped listening when he started shouting and telling me that I act like a kid."

Zoro didn't reply, didn't speak at all and just kept eating. Sanji looked over at him with a quirked eyebrow, expectantly.

"You gonna say something?"

"I don't think he really wants to kick you out or fire you," Zoro said suddenly, then dropped the fork inside the box and put the top back on it. "He just worries."

Sanji snorted "Right, nice way to worry." he shook his head and went back to stare ahead as he sucked on his cigarette. He felt Zoro stretch and crack his neck, then resting back against the bench.

"You get back home drunk almost every night and puke everywhere, of course he'll worry." there was a pause, not exactly brief, then Zoro went on "You don't get home at all for the night, and he'll worry. No matter what age are you."

Sanji stared at Zoro and the somewhat uneasy expression on his face with furrowed eyebrows. "Well I'm not a kid, he shouldn't worry. And he shouldn't stick his nose in what's none of his business."

Zoro sighed "He's a parent, it's his job to be nosy and annoying."

Sanji huffed and flicked the butt of his cigarette away "Whose side are you on?" he blew out the rest of the smoke through the side of his mouth "I thought you were my friend, not Zeff's."

"I am your friend, stupid Cook. I was just saying." Zoro explained as his face went back to the usual unreadable frown.

"Don't just say then!" Sanji replied, frustration audible in his high pitched tone "You get on my nerves just like my old man!" he growled and crossed one of his long legs over the other.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I fucked Ace." Sanji said casually as he pulled out his lighter and began to play with it.

Zoro's eyes turned the size of the moon as he stared at Sanji "You did what?!"

Sanji bit back a laugh and shrugged a shoulder "You wanted me to tell you something you didn't know."

"You fucked my brother?!" Zoro snarled. Sanji could see the vein in his neck enlarging and throbbing furiously under his skin.

"No, I didn't." Sanji paused for effect and added with a smirk "Yet."

Zoro threw the box at him "You damn asshole!"

Sanji's reflexes allowed him to catch the box just in time, then he sighed "You're such a drama queen! What do you care, even if I did? He's a grown man, I won't break his heart."

Zoro shook his head and muttered something under his breath before standing up. "I have to get back to work."

Sanji grimaced up at the other man "Oh, c'mon! Don't be an idiot!"

"I'll see you at Franky's tonight." and with those words Zoro turned on his heels and headed back inside the gym.

Sanji gritted his teeth as he watched Zoro leave, he didn't even know what other insults he could spit at him because he knew that they wouldn't affect him. God, why was the Marimo so damn cranky? It was just a joke! Sometimes it made him think that maybe Zoro nursed some kind of a crush for his brother or something like that.

Whatever it was made Sanji's stomach feel slightly sick and he was back to square one, where he just felt nervous and uneasy and wanted to tear the skin off of his body.

–

The rest of his shift at Baratie was hell.

Sanji kept being pestered and made fun of by everyone, he did reply of course, still he felt like his skin wasn't thick enough to bear with it all, that day. Zeff entered the kitchen a couple times to check on everyone's work, Sanji avoided any kind of contact with his father and darted outside for a smoke more than usually. He just needed that day at work to be over.

When the shift ended Sanji left the kitchen without saying a word and sneaked out from the back door to get home and change into something more appropriate for the night, then with his hair untied, a pair of black ripped jeans, a black button down shirt, combat boots and black eyeshadow he was ready to meet the guys at Franky's.

Sanji was slightly early, probably because he had literally ran out of the restaurant like the place was on fire, but he didn't care. Once he arrived outside Franky's house he saw Zoro sitting alone outside on the steps, playing with his phone.

"Oi, you shitty hobo! Get off my friend's porch!" Sanji yelled out as he approached the other man.

Zoro raised his eyes from his phone, a murderous glint shone inside them until he realized who had just shouted at him "Asshole. I was already about to kick your ass."

Sanji snorted as he stopped in front of his friend "You wouldn't stand a chance." he buried his hands into his pockets and bent over until he could peek at Zoro's phone screen "What are you doing? Looking at naked boys?" he teased.

"Texting Luffy, he and Ace will be ten minutes late or something." Zoro pushed Sanji's head away "You're the one who watches porn, not me. So fuck off."

Sanji sniggered and sat down next to Zoro, making sure to lean completely into his side "Dude, if I wanna get off I fuck, I don't watch twinks going at it on a screen." he smirked, then hit Zoro's knee with his softly "How come your brothers are late?"

Sanji felt Zoro shrug "Ace was still working, apparently he's just finished repairing a dude's water heater."

Sanji raised his eyebrows "Sounds kinky." he chuckled and Zoro groaned "What? You jealous?"

Zoro turned to look at him with furrowed eyebrows "What are you even talking about?"

Sanji rolled his eyes "Are you jealous of Ace fixing some dude's water heater 'til this hour?" he explained in a monotone.

Zoro shook his head and looked at Sanji puzzled "Why the fuck would I? It's his job!"

Sanji waved his hand "Whatever, nevermind." then jumped slightly when a voice came from behind them all of a sudden.

"Are you two doves going to come in, or you wanna stay out here forever?"

Both Sanji and Zoro turned to look behind them and saw Nami resting against the doorjamb.

"Have you been lurking?" Zoro asked as he glared at her.

Nami shrugged "Why, was he sucking your dick?"

Zoro stiffened immediately and Sanji couldn't help but laugh, throwing his head back. "I probably should, he needs it." Sanji smirked and stood up to greet Nami with a kiss on her cheek.

Nami squeezed one eye shut when Sanji pressed his lips against her cheekbone, then nodded towards Zoro "He sure does."

"Are you two done?!" Zoro barked as he sprung to his feet.

"Nah, making fun of you is our favorite thing to do!" Nami winked at Zoro, then disappeared into the house.

Sanji shook his head sniggering as he watched Nami stepping into the house, then turned to look at Zoro "Let's go, Marimo."

Zoro turned around and sat back down on the stairs "No, I'll wait for Ace and Luffy."

Sanji frowned "Okay. Want me to keep you company?"

"No."

Sanji snorted, trying not to sound too disappointed with the answer "Fuck you, then." he spat before storming inside Franky's house and slamming the door shut.

Fuck the Marimo and his shitty attitude.

Inside the house Sanji was greeted by Franky and Brook, and a slightly intoxicated Usopp.

"Why is he drunk before we even start?" Sanji asked with an annoyed frown.

"He saw Kaya holding hands with some guy," Franky explained "you know how this little brother gets." he shrugged a shoulder.

Sanji groaned "Oh c'mon! Don't get like this for just one girl!" he stepped over to Usopp and snatched a can of beer from his hands "You'll find plenty more!"

Usopp looked at Sanji outraged and stole the beer back from him "I love her!"

Sanji's eyes darkened as he shook his head, then before he could open his mouth to tell Usopp what his exact thoughts were, there was a bang from the door being opened too violently and a loud cry of victory.

"Sorry for having kept you waiting!" Luffy yelled out, making everyone turn around.

"Yeah, my bad!" Ace raised a hand as he walked up to Franky followed by the ever so quiet Zoro.

"Work is work, no worries! Yohohoho!" Brook laughed, as cheerful as always "Shall we go, Franky?" he suggested with a nod towards the garage stairs.

"I'm _super_ ready for some great music!" Franky threw a fist in the air, then looked at the others "If you guys are, too."

Luffy threw him the devil horns "My hands are itching really bad, I need to scratch them on my bass strings!"

And with the laughs that followed that exclamation they all gathered into the garage.

It was decided unanimously that they were going to add a second Nightwish song to the setlist, and they were probably going to record it too. The song was one of Sanji's personal favorites _'Wish I had An Angel'_, and it was going to have both Zoro and Ace on backup vocals – Brook, Franky and Usopp went absolutely nuts once they heard them play it for the first time, and Sanji already knew it was going to be a success.

"So, which one of you Superstars is coming out for a drink?" Franky asked as he looked at his friends all gathered into his living room, shrugging on their coats.

"Pass." Nami replied almost automatically as she wrapped a scarf around her neck.

Ace wiggled his tongue between his forefinger and middle finger, making a few others snigger.

"You jerk!" Nami growled as she punched his shoulder with all her strength.

Sanji shook his head as he put a cigarette between his lips "You can count me in." he said calmly as he lit up his cigarette and took a deep drag. When he felt the smoke scratching at the back of his throat he knew that he had definitely exaggerated during practice.

"I can't, I've got to wake up early." Brook frowned and hunched his shoulders, apologizing with his body language.

"We're coming!" Luffy gestured to he and his brothers with the biggest grin, and Usopp cried out in happiness as he jumped on Luffy's back.

"Alright, then. Let's go!" Franky nodded and waited for everyone to be outside to lock up his place.

Brook and Nami bid the guys goodnight, then Franky, Usopp and Luffy climbed into Franky's car while Ace, Zoro and Sanji rode into Ace's beat up Chevrolet.

"God, these leather seats must be a pain to wash if you get come on them, eh?" Sanji commented as he took place in the middle of the backseat.

Ace sniggered "Not really, if you know how to treat it."

Sanji smirked at the crooked grin that Ace shot him from the rear view mirror.

"You two always have the nicest conversations." Zoro muttered as he turned on the radio.

"Sorry if we don't just speak about steroids and chastity." Sanji replied with a cocked eyebrow.

Zoro turned in his seat and punched Sanji's knee.

"Fuck! You bastard!" Sanji kicked Zoro's elbow in return.

"I'll kill you! You shitty Cook!" Zoro growled as he caught Sanji's ankle.

"Guys, guys!" Ace cried out "Knock it off! Just let me drive, for fuck's sake!"

Both Sanji and Zoro stopped fighting, and after a last deadly glare Zoro rested back against his seat and Sanji slid behind Ace's, folding his arms over his chest as he puffed on the rest of his almost finished cigarette.

–

Sabaody was the chosen destination and Sanji couldn't ask for a better place: the drinks were cheap but nice, the music was great and the dance floor was always crowded with good looking men.

Sanji climbed out of the car, unbuttoned an extra button on his shirt and looked at himself into the reflection of the car window. Some eyeshadow was smudged on his cheek, so he made sure to thumb it away.

"Are you done, Princess?" Zoro asked as he waited for him.

"Go to hell, Marimo." Sanji grunted as he straightened back up and hooked a finger around one of Zoro's belt loops "Stay close or you'll get lost." he added as him along and entered the club after Ace. Zoro grumbled under his breath but followed him with no objections.

Usopp, Franky and Luffy were already crammed up against the counter to try and order their drinks, so Sanji pinched Usopp's butt to get his attention.

"What the–" Usopp sneered as he turned around "Oh..." he blinked once he saw Sanji's grin. "They're here!" Usopp called out from over the music, patting on Franky's back.

The big, blue haired man turned to spot his friends and waved at them "We've already ordered, you can squeeze in and ask for yourselves!"

"Ah, thanks bro!" Ace smiled and pushed his way up to the counter.

"What do you want?" Sanji asked as he turned to look at Zoro.

"Uhh, a Corona and a Black Russian." Zoro shrugged a shoulder.

"Is it the cocktail you want or a big black, Russian stud?" Sanji asked.

Zoro groaned and rolled his eyes "Go ahead and order!"

Sanji sniggered and clapped a hand on Ace's shoulder "A Corona and a Black Russian for your brother, and a Long Island Iced Tea for me."

Ace furrowed his eyebrows as he looked back at Sanji "Even the drinks you order are gay as fuck."

"I'm extremely consistent with myself, y'know." Sanji wriggled his brows and palmed one of Ace's buttocks, making him gasp.

"You got a point." Ace gave a somewhat nervous laugh, then turned to Shakki to order their drinks.

Sanji snickered to himself and turned to look at Zoro "We can get away from all these sardines pressed together, your brother is getting our drinks."

Zoro nodded without saying a word and sneaked away from the people queuing up at the bar.

Sanji tried to do the same, bumping into a couple of girls in the process and exaggeratedly apologized for his clumsiness, but only after profusely praising the girls' beauty he left them be and walked up to Zoro.

"It's adorable how you still hit on girls even though you only fuck guys." Zoro commented once they'd reached a less packed spot of the club.

Sanji raised his eyebrows "Even though I dig guys I still find women the most beautiful and majestic creatures in all creation." he explained as a faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Zoro tilted his head slightly, not really answering but getting and respecting Sanji's words. After all, the fair sex had always been the bane of Sanji's life, it wasn't that hard to believe in his statement.

"I need a smoke," Sanji sighed all of a sudden "I'll see you in a bit."

"Uh... Alright." Zoro shrugged and watched as Sanji exited the club with a cigarette between his fingers.

Sanji really needed a smoke, but most of all he needed to find his fun for the night. He lit up the cigarette, taking a long and deep drag, then took a look around, scanning the people that were smoking or chatting outside.

There were a few people he knew, three or four guys he'd already been with, and then there was him: Cavendish, in his white shirt, big blond hair, shiny black leggins and cowboy boots.

Everyone knew Cavendish, he was the lead singer of a local glam rock band, a pretty famous one, they were already touring outside of the city and the underground scene loved them. Sanji wasn't a big fan of them, but he sure as hell dug Cavendish and his gorgeous androgynous look.

Sanji bit his bottom lip, smirking to himself as he decided that he couldn't find a better company for the night, not even if he tried. He carded his fingers through his hair in an absentminded attempt to fix his appearance and boost his confidence, then walked up to the guy.

The young man was struggling with his own lighter as he spoke to a couple of girls (Sanji could tell they were fans just by the way they were adoringly staring at him), and it was then that Sanji whipped out his own zippo lighter and flicked it, extending his arm so that it was near Cavendish's cigarette.

Cavendish raised an eyebrow and cupped a hand behind the small flame, then leaned in to light up his cigarette "Thanks man." he nodded as he reared back.

"No problem." Sanji shrugged, then looked at the girls staring at him (or maybe they were glaring?) "Sorry I interrupted your conversation, it was extremely rude of me." Sanji bowed his head and took a step back.

"I know you." Cavendish cut in before Sanji could leave "You're Murder of Crow's singer, right?"

Sanji cocked his head "That would be me, yeah."

Cavendish's lips stretched into a smirk "You're more handsome than I remembered."

Sanji sniggered before taking a puff of tobacco "Well, you must have seen me in a poorly lit room, then."

Cavendish nodded "That's very possible." he licked his lips, then took a drag of smoke "Can I offer you a drink? You know..." he held up his cigarette, meaning that he wanted to do something in return for the light.

Sanji waved his hand "No, thank you." he jerked his thumb in the direction of the door of the club "My friends are already getting me one, and well–" he gestured at the girls "you're quite busy."

Cavendish frowned "Well they were just bidding me goodnight," then he tilted his head "and the drink I was talking about..." he scrunched his nose "I meant to offer it to you at my place."

The girls turned a soft shade of red and in their visible discomfort decided to quietly leave the two men alone.

"Is that so?" Sanji's smirk turned into a grin right after blowing out some smoke through the corner of his lips.

"It is." Cavendish pressed his lips together and nodded slowly.

"Oi, Cook!" Zoro's voice thundered from the front door "Our drinks!"

Sanji turned around to look at Zoro and raised his hand "Comin'!"

"Oh, you've got Mr Broody already." Cavendish lifted an eyebrow "He's more interesting than I am, I take it?"

Sanji spun back to face Cavendish "Give me five minutes."

Cavendish grinned in pure satisfaction and went back to nurse his cigarette.

Sanji dropped his own cigarette on the concrete and stepped over it before jogging up to Zoro.

"C'mon." Zoro muttered as he moved to get back inside, but Sanji grabbed him by the elbow, making him stop.

"Look," he started as he fished a few notes out of his pockets "I'm not coming, sorry. Here's the money for my drink."

Zoro looked down at Sanji's money, then lifted his gaze over the blond's shoulder. His eyes suddenly darkened and his expression became stern, almost icy.

"Bye, then." Zoro didn't take the money, he just turned on his heels and disappeared inside the club leaving Sanji dumbfounded and unable to speak back.

"You coming, then?" Cavendish asked as he'd quietly approached Sanji.

"Uh... Yeah. Yeah, sure."

Sanji hated it when he couldn't get back at Zoro, couldn't stand it when Zoro became so unreadable and cold that Sanji couldn't even insult him. It was nearly frighting and painful, it was way better to fight.

–

It turned out that Cavendish's place wasn't that far away from Sabaody, still he preferred to drive his white Audi back home.

Sanji wasn't quite that accustomed to riding inside expensive cars, he'd been in a couple SUVs but that was it. He knew that Cavendish was a spoiled little shit, his parents being the owners of a five stars hotel downtown _'The Royalty'_ and that was exactly how he'd earned the nickname _'Prince'_.

When they arrived to Cavendish's attic, Sanji realized that Lucci's wealth was nothing compared to the luxury surrounding Cavendish's life. The guy wasn't forced to work for a living while waiting for his band to become big, the attic they were in was Cavendish's only, he lived there by himself and didn't have to pay a cent for it.

The house was filled with the best modern design furniture one could ask and supplied with all the latest technology on the market. There were posters of Cavendish and his band on at least every wall and Sanji felt incredibly small in that place. It wasn't exactly like he and Zeff weren't doing well, the Baratie was a pretty famous restaurant after all, but it was very different from owning an inherited hotel.

"About that drink..." Cavendish started as he sauntered towards his own small, private bar "What would you like?"

It took Sanji a few moments to register the question, and when he finally did he blurted out a couple words "Uh, Martini Dry."

Cavendish placed two cocktail glasses on the small counter and mixed gin and vermouth dry in both of them. Sanji wasn't sure Cavendish knew the exact doses for the cocktail, but at least he knew what to pour together in the stemmed glass.

Sanji grabbed the glass by the stem and twirled the alcohol around, staring down at it until Cavendish raised his own glass.

"Cheers!" Cavendish smirked and sipped his cocktail.

"Cheers." Sanji replied before tasting his own. Maybe it tasted a little too much of vermouth, maybe it was a bit too strong but it still was quality booze.

"I've been to one of your shows, y'know?" Cavendish started with an arched eyebrow.

"Really?" Sanji cocked his head slightly "Hm, I'd remember seeing you to one of our shows." he tapped his forefinger on the glass "You're a liar."

Cavendish sniggered "Maybe..." he took another sip, taking his sweet time to add "Or maybe not."

"I've seen you to one of those _Glitter and Dolls_ nights, down at the Colosseum." Sanji admitted as he swallowed down one last big gulp of liquor, then set the glass down on the counter.

Cavendish bit his lower lip "You should have come say hi."

Sanji leaned both elbows on the cool surface of the counter and rested his chin on top of his laced fingers "I'm doing it now." he grinned.

Cavendish knocked back the rest of his drink and put the glass down himself "I'm glad you did." he gently took Sanji's chin between his thumb and forefinger, then leaned in to press their lips together.

Sanji tilted his head just slightly and parted his lips to welcome the other man's tongue inside his mouth. He pushed himself up, one hand went to cup the back of Cavendish's neck, the other moved to press down on the counter for support.

The kiss was rough and hungry, stripped of any sort of emotion, just raw physical need of lips and fingers on skin, teeth leaving marks, clothes rapidly being shed all over the floor until both men tumbled onto Cavendish's king sized bed.

"God, you're gorgeous." Cavendish moaned as he clawed his way down Sanji's toned abs.

Sanji shivered, more because of the words than the nails on his skin "I know."

Cavendish chuckled, just before spreading Sanji's legs and going down on him. Sanji threw his head back and his eyes dropped shut as a crooked grin curled his lips.

That was Sanji's drug.

Feeling gorgeous, feeling wanted and irresistible, that was what Sanji aimed for every single time he flirted with someone. He didn't need anything else, didn't want anything more than being praised and pleasured.

Sanji did believe in love, he still thought it could exist, he just didn't want anything to do with it. Not after seeing what love did to his father when his mother died, not after being rejected by every girl he had ever fallen for as a young boy. Definitely not after that time in high school when an older girl he fancied pretended to be in love with him, dated him for an entire week before humiliating him in front of all her friends when she confessed that it was all just a joke.

He knew had examples of love around him, he had seen how much Mihawk and Shanks loved each other but he just didn't think that love could happen to him or do him any good. That was why Sanji felt so uneasy around Nami and Vivi, because Nami had always had the same thoughts on love, up until Vivi came around.

Apparently love could happen to anyone but him.

That was why Sanji never slept with the same guy twice, he didn't want any pain or attachment, didn't want to be bothered, he just wanted a toe curling orgasm that emptied his mind, a fuck that made him feel like the king of the world.

And Cavendish gave it to him, he sucked him dry and fucked him into the mattress, and only when they were a pile of sweaty, trembling and panting limbs they did stop.

"Where are my pants?" Sanji asked as he sat up, silky hot pink sheets sliding off his torso as he moved. He didn't even want to know what could have possibly happened to his make up.

Cavendish rubbed at his forehead, grimacing as he tried to remember where and when he'd torn Sanji's pants off. "Look by the foot of the bed."

Sanji crawled towards the foot of the bed and picked his jeans from the floor "Here you are..." he grabbed his packet of cigarettes and his zippo from the back pocket and sat back down. He lit up a cigarette and put the lighter by his side on the mattress.

"That's a great idea." Cavendish commented as he stretched over to grab his own cigarettes from the nightstand, placed one between his lips then went to take Sanji's lighter.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sanji sneered suddenly, holding his cigarette between his long, skinny fingers as he glared at Cavendish.

The man stared at Sanji completely puzzled "I... Need a light?"

Sanji snatched the zippo out Cavendish's hands and got up from the bed "Like fuck you are!"

"W-what?" Cavendish kept watching as Sanji put out the cigarette into the ashtray on the nightstand and started furiously pulling on his clothes.

"Just because you fucked me, it doesn't mean that you can get your filthy hands on my stuff!" Sanji growled as he collected his shirt from the floor and quickly shrugged it on with his lighter firmly clenched inside his fist.

"I was just fucking trying to light my cigarette!" Cavendish cried out with a dramatic wave of his hand.

"You don't just take other people stuff like this, you ask for them!" Sanji practically shouted as he slid on his boots.

"You're a fucking psycho! Get out of my house!" Cavendish yelled as he stood up from the bed and pointed at the door.

"And you don't even know what a prostate is!" Sanji shouted in return, then after he pocketed his zippo went on "And you're shit at singing."

"I'll fucking kill you!" Cavendish barked as he followed Sanji who was way quicker than him and nearly got hit in the face by his own front door.

Sanji kept muttering a string of elaborated curses as he buttoned his shirt and zipped up his coat.

No one was allowed to touch the custom made zippo that Zoro had given to Sanji as a gift eight years before.

_**To Be Continued...**_

* * *

_**A/N**_**: **Cavendish's band is inspired to modern Glam Rock/Hair Metal bands such as Crashdiet and/or Reckless Love.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N**_**: **Thanks to everyone who favorited and followed this story and to whoever left comments or is simply reading this story, it means a lot.

A special thanks goes to my girlfriend for being a constant source of help and inspiration.

There aren't particular warnings for this chapter, but I do wanna tell you that more characters are introduced in here, so enjoy! ;)

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"As a few of you might know–" Sanji tucked a wet, messy strand of hair behind his ear as he spoke into the microphone "us Crows are big fans of Nightwish." Sanji smirked and let the audience shout and cheer at the band he'd just mentioned, then turned to Ace with raised eyebrows "I guess they like them too!"

Ace nodded and strummed a couple random chords on his guitar as a response, making the crowd whoop and whistle in excitement.

"What's not to adore about them?" Luffy asked rhetorically into his microphone as he scanned the audience. There was more shouting, and then a single, distinct feminine voice cried out Luffy's name. Of course he recognized it, and once he'd spotted the girl he waved at her "Hey, Hammock!"

The was laughter from the rest of the band and audience, then Sanji's hands automatically went to smooth the black and blue tulle of the short skirt he was wearing, before moving to place the microphone on his mic stand, and that alone served as a cue for the entire band to start singing in unison the opening line to _Wish I Had An Angel_.

The crowd went completely nuts. People in the first couple rows started headbanging, a few others in the back started moshing, and even the other bands that were taking part to the _Metal Mayhem_ that night sang along with Sanji and the audience.

From the very back of the venue, a woman dressed in purple and black and a man with slicked back black hair, wearing a big coat sat at a table, drinking and watching Murder of Crow perform.

"People love them. They have their very own fanbase, already." the woman commented as she placed her bright colored cocktail on the table.

"I know. I think we could definitely take them with us." the man didn't tear his eyes from the stage as he took a deep drag off his cigar.

"Should I speak with them, then?" the woman turned to look at the man.

The man kept quiet for some moments, studying the audience and watching how the band interacted with it, then cocked his head in the direction of the girl, eyes still glued to the stage "Let's just enjoy the show for tonight, eh? We've got plenty of time to decide, I don't think anyone will steal them from us."

The woman nodded slowly, folded her arms and turned to look back at the band with a small smirk on her lips.

The music stopped abruptly when Ace's hoarse voice pronounced the closing line of the song and Sanji had ended up standing on the dais of Zoro's drum kit, facing the sweat covered drummer with a devilish grin as they both panted from the effort of performing.

It was in moments like those that Zoro was more and more certain that Sanji was actually a demon sent to the earth specifically to torture Zoro for the rest of his days with his existence alone.

He didn't know whether to murder or thank his brother for planting the idea of cross-dressing inside Sanji's brain, but he sure as hell needed to thank his good star for letting him perform perfectly throughout the whole song no matter the inconvenient and uncomfortable hard-on.

It was hard enough having to play drums with the distraction of Sanji's provocative movements while having his body clad in tight pants and tops, but having to watch Sanji move around the stage in fishnet stockings, a tulle mini-skirt and a lace corset could have costed him his coronaries.

Sanji winked at Zoro right before turning around on his platform boots to face the audience again, and it took all of Zoro's strength and self-control not to drop his head on a tom.

As he forcefully tore his eyes from Sanji's figure, Zoro saw his older brother look back at him with the biggest shit eating grin he'd ever seen, and Zoro would have gladly punched it off his face. Unable to fling a drumstick at Ace's eye, Zoro limited himself to flip him the bird, only causing him to snigger to himself and turn back to the audience.

They still had one more song to perform, one of their own, it was called _'Big Black Wolf'_ and it told the tale of a very special Red Riding Hood who got lost into the forest and slayed the terrible wolf with her very hands, and the fight was narrated as that of a knight facing a dragon. It was a very theatrical song with lots of choir parts, Brook's violin and a hammering rhythm – the band really enjoyed performing it and it was the perfect song for a finale.

Zoro managed to keep his eyes off Sanji for the longest six minutes ever, never messing up, only focusing on what he had to do, either keeping his eyes shut for a few moments or looking down at the elements of the drums.

It was a success. Everyone cheered them on once they had finished performing and Zoro even threw his drumsticks at the audience – he may or may not have laughed under his breath when he saw Bartolomeo punching a guy in the face to get the sticks for himself.

When they stepped backstage Luffy wouldn't stop screaming with Usopp and Franky about how great the show had been, and Sanji and Ace soon joined them, whooping and shouting, while Nami held Vivi so tight in her arms that she swept her off the ground and twirled her around.

"Playing on stage with you is so exciting! It gives me the biggest rush of adrenaline! Yohohoho!" Brook laughed as he threw his arms up in pure exhilaration.

"Well you're great Brook! We love having you with us on stage!" Nami beamed up at him.

"Dear Nami, you flatter me so!" Brook's cheek flushed slightly, then he leaned closer to her to ask "May I see your panties?"

Both Vivi and Nami kicked Brook in the shins so hard that he collapsed to the floor sobbing, while the rest of the guys were clutching at their stomachs in hysterics.

Zoro shook his head, an amused smirk on his lips as he watched his friends going bonkers over the successful gig. He grabbed a towel from his bag and scrubbed at his hair and face to wipe off his sweat.

"Marimo! Don't be boring!" Sanji groaned not too far from him "Why aren't you celebrating with us?"

Zoro tore the towel away from his face and wrapped it around his shoulders as he finally looked over at his expectant friends.

"Didn't wanna cover you in sweat." Zoro shrugged. It was so much easier to say that instead of _'I don't wanna risk my pants ripping on the front if I get too close to you'._

"You idiot, don't you see how gross your brothers are?" Sanji grimaced as he gestured towards the sweat soaked pair standing next to him.

"We're not gross!" Ace cried while his little brother picked at his nose with his pinky and sneakily tried to wipe it on Usopp's shirt.

Zoro snorted and shook his head before deciding that in that dim light and with those black leather pants the silhouette of his raging boner might have gone unnoticed.

"I can't believe you actually dressed like this." Ace shook his head as he looked at Sanji, a small pleased smirk curving the corners of his mouth.

"He looks great, doesn't he?" Nami grinned and wrapped her arm around Sanji's neck "We went clothes shopping together!" she winked.

Oh good. Now Zoro knew who to blame and possibly kill. He folded his arms over his chest and shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other as he listened and tried not to eye Sanji from head to toe.

"Yeah, too bad we don't have the same bra size, or else we could have tried on a few together!" Sanji wriggled his eyebrows and Nami slapped him on the back of the head.

"Like hell you're seeing my boobs!" Nami growled as she shoved Sanji to the side.

Sanji moaned and rubbed at his aching chest "But breasts are nice!"

"Wasn't he gay?" Vivi cut in as she half glared at Sanji.

"He's just a pervert," Brook sighed "you think _I_ could accompany both of you ladies to buy some panties, instead?"

"What is wrong with all of you?!" Nami yelled and everyone else couldn't help but laugh.

"We just _super_ love ladies and you know it, little sister!" Franky grinned, then he looked over Zoro's shoulder and lifted his shades "And wow, look at her! She's _super_ gorgeous!"

Everyone including Zoro turned to see a girl with long pink hair speaking to one of the techs. Zoro had seen her before, she definitely looked familiar to him but he couldn't quite place her – not from such a distance at least, she could have been Perona for all he could know. _God he hoped it wasn't Perona_.

"Isn't she from _Freakshow_?" Sanji asked as he squinted his eyes as much as he could to try and recognize her.

"What? Tra-guy's band?" Luffy frowned as he walked closer to Sanji to take a better look.

"You guys look like creeps, staring like that!" Zoro grunted.

"Bonney?" Ace furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah, her!" Sanji nodded at Ace, then went back to stare at the girl.

"If that's her she'll probably snap your necks while you're not watching." Zoro muttered, then pulled on a hoodie as sweat froze on his skin. Maybe if he tugged it as down as he could it would have covered up his shame, too.

"Do you plan on harassing our guitarist any further?" a deep voice thundered from behind them, making Usopp, Nami and Brook jump in fear.

"Sneak up on us like that once again and I'll have you killed!" Nami growled and got immediately laughed at.

"Speak of the devil." Zoro arched an eyebrow at the two men dressed in black full officer tunics.

"Tra-guy!" Luffy cried out and beamed at him "How are you doin' man?"

Law slightly lifted the peak of his forage cap with the tip of his gloved forefinger and looked down at Luffy with his usual stoic expression "Hey there." then his apparently vacant eyes focused on Sanji and a tiny smirk spread on his lips.

Zoro glanced at Sanji and frowned when he saw the way in which the blond was just grinning back at Law.

"We saw you play," Kidd cut in all of a sudden, making Zoro snap back to reality "not bad."

Zoro's eyebrow quirked upwards "Yeah." he threw one last glance at Law and Sanji who had stepped away from the group to chat in private. "You're up next, right?" Zoro added as he turned his gaze back to Kidd.

"That's right, we're performing after _Doomsday_." Kidd explained as he jerked a gloved thumb in the general direction of the stage.

Zoro didn't exactly understand why he was alone with Kidd all of a sudden, everyone had apparently sauntered off to somewhere else, and in that moment Zoro felt an uneasy feeling settling into his stomach like a rock.

"Are you alright?"

Zoro blinked as he realized that he had spaced out and hadn't heard a word of what Kidd had said "Huh?"

Kidd squinted at Zoro, puzzled, but spoke again anyway "I said that we'd like you guys to be the opening act for a few of our shows."

Zoro raised both his eyebrows at those words. Freakshow were more famous and known than Murder Of Crows, which meant that they were touring outside of the city and they were close enough to start touring outside of the country. They also had a contract with the _Baroque Records_, a big record company for underground and alternative music. If Zoro and the guys really ended up opening a couple of Freakshow's gigs they would have definitely gained more notoriety and some new fans.

"Really?" Zoro inquired "Why us?"

Kidd snorted "Are you seriously asking me that?" then when Zoro's expression didn't change he sighed and continued "You guys are one of the best bands around, and we don't want shitty bands to perform before us."

Zoro couldn't help the small laugh that left his throat, then shrugged "I guess it wouldn't really hurt us."

Kidd nodded "So we got a deal?"

"I gotta talk to the others first," Zoro frowned, then gave a one-shouldered shrug "but I'm pretty sure they'll be fine with it."

Kidd was about to do or say something when his gaze strayed from Zoro's eyes to past his shoulder, his eyes darkening all of a sudden as he focused on something. Zoro frowned and turned in order to see what was bothering Kidd only to find Law with his hand on Sanji's hip, whispering into his ear as the blond listened with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Fucking hell..." Zoro really couldn't help the words that slipped past his lips.

"That asshat can barely keep it in his pants." Kidd snarled.

Zoro whipped his head into Kidd's direction so hard that his three earrings jangled and his neck creaked. "Come again?" he wasn't really sure he'd understood correctly, but no matter Sanji's behavior, Zoro wasn't going to let anyone insult him.

Kidd shook his head "Trafalgar," he finally went back to look at Zoro "He's clearly hitting on your singer, the fucker." his jaw clenched after the last word was uttered, and it was then that Zoro knew what was up.

Kidd was jealous. Probably just as jealous as Zoro was – there were rumors about Kidd and Law being a couple, after all.

Zoro glanced back at Sanji and the way he laughed when Law spoke to him and felt a tug to both his heart and stomach. His gaze dropped to the floor for a moment, as if he was trying to resume his cool, then looked at Kidd "It's not exactly as if my singer isn't enjoying it..."

Kidd scowled at Zoro, but nodded without saying a word, much like he'd understood the bigger meaning behind those words and that masked look of defeat.

"Law! You little slut, we're up in fifteen minutes!" someone behind Zoro roared, startling him.

A grin spread on Kidd's lips as he looked over Zoro's shoulder again, so the drummer had to turn one more time to see what was going on.

"Fuck, Bonney!" Law grumbled as he'd finally detached himself from Sanji's body "You gave me a heart attack!"

"If only!" Bonney shook her head and proceeded to walk up to Zoro and Kidd, leaving Sanji to just stare at her dumbfounded and Law to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck.

Zoro bit back a smirk and mentally thanked the girl at least a thousand times.

"You're one to talk, stuffing your face right before the show." Kidd commented with a gesture of his hand towards the half eaten hotdog in Bonney's hand.

"My fast metabolism is none of your fucking business, really." Bonney replied right before taking a bite of her sub.

Now that Zoro saw Bonney in her stage costume he definitely recognized her as the lead guitarist of Freakshow. She was wearing the same uniform as Law and Kidd, but instead of trousers she was wearing shorts with ripped stockings. Most importantly, she was just as badass as Zoro remembered.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Kidd rolled his eyes, then pointed at Zoro "He's Murder of Crows' leader."

One of Bonney's eyebrows quirked up as she looked at Kidd like he was demented "I know," she glanced at Zoro "So you're coming out for a few gigs with us?" Bonney inquired as she snapped at her sub and then pushed the rest of the sandwich into her mouth.

Zoro couldn't help but stare at the way she ate, she would have definitely been a fair challenge to his brothers. "I still need to speak to the rest of the band about it but I guess we might."

"We'll have fun," Bonney spoke around the last mouthful, then hit Kidd in the chest with the back of her hand "You and Kidd here seem to have plenty in common." she winked at Zoro, then looked at Kidd "I'll get my guitar then we get on stage, eh?"

Kidd just shoved her in the direction of the lockers "Just go, you bossy little shit."

"Push me around once again and that'll be the last time you have hands." Bonney sneered as she stomped towards the lockers.

Zoro folded his arms across his broad chest and cocked his head as he watched Bonney disappear around the corner "She'd be best friends with my keyboardist."

Kidd shook his head "Without Bonney we probably wouldn't even be here. She keeps us all in line." then he lowered his voice "Just don't tell her I said so."

Zoro smirked "Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Come on, Eustass-ya." Law suddenly pushed past Zoro and fixed the strap of his bass around his neck "Time to shine." he briefly glanced at Zoro, then swanned off in the direction of the stage stairs.

Kidd followed Law with his eyes, then saluted Zoro "Let us know your answer."

Zoro answered with a nod, then watched Kidd strut towards Law and lean in to speak to him with an angry expression painted on his features. They were just about to start arguing when Bonney and the rest of their band (Zoro was pretty sure the other guys names were something like Killer and Heat, but he wouldn't bet on it) walked up to them, so they immediately knocked it off and walked out on stage one by one.

"Got yourself a date?" Sanji's voice arrived seemingly from out of thin air, as he'd quietly moved to stand beside Zoro. "If I didn't know how much of a giant homo you are I'd also ask if you fell in love with Bonney."

Zoro cocked an eyebrow and turned to look at Sanji "Maybe you got a date with a bassist," he spat out those words as if they were harmful to his body and he needed them out of his system "I got a work offer." he added in a more relaxed tone.

Sanji frowned and nodded, then placed a cigarette between his lips "Been there, done that." he shrugged his shoulders as he cupped a hand around the flame of the lighter, inhaling deeply before tucking his lighter inside the tight cleavage of his corset. "A work offer, huh?" a shit eating grin spread on his lips "Gotta help Kidd weight lifting?" he sniggered.

Zoro's eyebrows drew together and a couple deep creases formed between them "You've already slept with Law?" the details about the actual offer that Kidd made him was completely forgotten in that moment.

Sanji's cheek hollowed more then necessary as he sucked on the filter, making Zoro's dormant arousal stir in anticipation of something that definitely wasn't going to happen. "I have," he exhaled smoke in a thin streak "what's so shocking about that?"

Zoro's jaw tensed for a couple moments as he blinked and raised a shoulder "I thought Law was with Kidd."

Sanji snorted and carelessly scattered ashes all over the floor as he flicked at his cigarette "He kinda is, then again he kinda isn't." he shook his head then took a drag "Dunno really, they're fucking weird." he raised his eyebrows and chewed on his lip ring.

If Zoro wasn't already confused, by the time Sanji had finished spilling his poor explanation he definitely was. He shook his head "What does that even mean? Are they an open couple or–?"

Sanji's eyes rolled back into his skull as he let out an exasperated huff of air "What do you care?"

Zoro spread his arms "Humor me, alright?"

Sanji stared quietly at Zoro for a few moments, then began "Law likes the attention–" he stopped speaking right when Zoro cocked an eyebrow knowingly "I won't say shit if you stare at me like that, you dickwad!" he barked, turning a light shade of red.

Zoro groaned and rolled his eyes "I'm just looking at you!" of course he wasn't going to make a kettle calling the pot black joke, but it was exactly what he was thinking.

"You're silently judging me!" Sanji sneered and dropped the cig on the floor before mercilessly crushing it under the weight of his platform.

Zoro's expression changed to its usual frown right away "Don't give me that crap, Cook. You know I don't do that." and it was true, at least when he wasn't blinded by rage or jealousy he never even thought anything bad about Sanji's lifestyle. Of course he was jealous, of course he thought it was unhealthy on different levels, but apart from teasing Sanji about it, Zoro had never been downright judgmental. Or at least he tried not to be. He cared about Sanji.

Sanji stared Zoro down as if he was trying to turn into a lie detector and understand if he was bullshitting him, then finally went on. "Alright..." he sighed "He's actually in love with Kidd, but they're just–" he grimaced "weird. I can't even explain. They fuck around, but then they're at each other's throat because of that and never talk feelings." he shrugged a shoulder.

Zoro took everything in like a blow to the guts. Those words hit home somehow, or at least they sounded way too familiar. Zoro didn't know if Sanji realized that, he had noticed that he hadn't particularly enjoyed speaking about it but that might have meant all kinds of different things.

He had seen for himself that look in Kidd's eye, the mixture of raw pain and anger, Zoro knew that feeling all too well but he was just better at masking it – or so he hoped.

"That's... Fucked up." Zoro scrunched his nose, his eyes not meeting with Sanji's.

"Told you, they're weird." Sanji's tone was still low and calm "But at least they want us to open a few of their gigs, huh?"

Zoro's gaze flew back up and locked with Sanji's smug expression "Law... Told you about it?"

Sanji tilted his head to the side slightly "Well I ensured it. Sort of."

Realization dawned on Zoro, and at the same time he hoped that he was completely wrong before he opened his mouth to cry out "By fucking him?!"

"You make it sound so dramatic!" Sanji scowled "I didn't exactly trade sex with us becoming Freakshow opening act... I mean, we're fucking amazing, our talent did the job but–" he gestured down to his body "this helped."

The mixture of emotions that suddenly washed over Zoro left him breathless like a bucket of icy water down his back. He didn't exactly know what infuriated him the most, but he was so enraged that he could feel a vein in his neck throb and his heart pound furiously in his chest like a hammer.

"What... Did you just say?" Zoro sneered through gritted teeth as he still tried to hold it in.

Sanji stared at Zoro dead in the eye "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"You fucked Law to be his band's supporting act?" Zoro asked with an incredulous expression. He couldn't believe Sanji had so little faith in their own abilities, they could have waited instead of fucking their way through the business.

"I fucked Law because I wanted to! But I also made sure that they were really gonna pick our band!" Sanji explained with a tone that made clear that he didn't understand what Zoro's fuss was all about.

"When did you become a music whore?" Zoro growled as he raised his hands in surrender. He was so mad he could barely contain himself "Why don't you do it for money, next time? Or a record contract!" he huffed, then shrugged both his shoulders "Go fuck a producer, so we can become famous thanks to how good you are at giving head!"

Sanji stared at him outraged, his entire face and ears as red as a tomato and hands balled into fists "You're a fucking asshole! Don't you _dare_ call me a whore ever again!" he barked right before shoving Zoro as hard as he could.

Zoro stumbled backwards and returned the push "I'll stop calling you a whore when you'll stop fucking to obtain gigs and favors!"

By that point they were both shouting and Sanji had resorted to aiming a kick right to the side of Zoro's head, Zoro blocked it with his arm then threw Sanji a punch that was deftly dodged. The fight got rougher but thankfully the commotion caught the attention of a few techs that immediately called Ace and Franky who promptly broke off the fight before blood could be added to the few bruises that Sanji and Zoro had already earned.

"I'll bash your brains in, you fucker!" Sanji yelled and wriggled as Franky held him by the chest and waist.

"Go ahead, you asshole!" Zoro roared as he tried to jerk out of Ace's hold.

"If you dumbasses keep at it you'll be kicked out!" Franky chastised them as he struggled to hold Sanji back.

"He called me a whore! I'll kick him until he regrets even thinking that!"

"You've proved to be one, so I won't take it back!"

Sanji succeeded in slipping out of Franky's hold and all but launched himself at Zoro and Ace, making both brothers fall backwards.

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?" Franky growled as he sprinted forward to catch Sanji all over again.

In the meantime the rest of their friends had quickly gathered around them, but the ruckus had inevitably caught the attention of the security who, despite Nami and Usopp's pleadings, made sure to kick Sanji and Zoro out of the venue.

"Thank your good star for not getting banned from this place!" Nami scolded them as they sat on the concrete of the sidewalk, panting and scowling. "I would have fucking killed you, if that were to happen!"

"Now, now," Usopp raised his hands and frowned at Nami "let's calm down, okay?"

"You guys are awesome! You managed to fight even after a great success!" Luffy laughed as he watched them with his hands on his hips.

"We fought because he's an asshole." Sanji grumbled as he fixed his skirt, avoiding to look at Zoro directly.

"We fought because you're a–"

"Oi! Knock it off!" Ace punched Zoro right on top of his head to shut him up before he could trigger Sanji again.

"Ow! Fuck you, too!" Zoro cried as he pressed both hands on top of his aching head.

"I'll go get our stuff from the lockers," Nami shook her head, then looked over at Vivi and Usopp "will you give me a hand?" they both nodded and followed her back inside the venue.

Zoro sat still with his knees bent and a hand still rubbing at his head. He threw Sanji a glance and noticed that he looked genuinely upset. Zoro never meant to hurt Sanji's feelings, but there was no way he could have held back from telling him what he thought about his stunt.

It wasn't just about being jealous, it was about doing something that went completely against their values and principles. Sure Murder Of Crows could use some help, but only because of their musical talent, not Sanji's sex skills. That was just plain wrong.

"I'll wait for Nami to bring me my stuff, then I'm outta here." Sanji suddenly broke the uncomfortable silence, making everyone's heads whip in his direction.

"Yeah? You're not coming out for a drink?" Franky furrowed his eyebrows at him.

Sanji stood up and dusted off the back of his skirt "What the fuck is there to celebrate?" he patted his chest, then pulled a terrified expression "Shit! I lost my lighter!"

Zoro looked up at him with wide eyes. He knew it was just a stupid coincidence, but if Sanji'd lost the zippo he'd given to him _that_ night it definitely sounded like a bad omen.

"Ah! I have it, sorry!" Luffy raised his eyebrows and reached into his pocket to pull out Sanji's lighter. "I picked it up from the floor earlier and forgot to give it back!" he grinned as he extended his arm towards Sanji.

"Oh fuck," Sanji hung his head for a moment, then grabbed the zippo from Luffy's hand "Thank you, really."

"Don't mention it!" Luffy sniggered, and Ace patted his head.

Zoro's expression softened in a small smile of gratitude towards his little brother who beamed back at him.

"I'm sorry that the night took a bad turn, but I've really enjoyed it!" Brook spoke softly as he adjusted his glassed on the bridge of his nose "I'm afraid I have to leave now, I've got an early morning. As usual. Yohohoho!"

"Aw, that's too bad!" Ace frowned.

"Yeah, well... I'll see you soon!" Brook saluted them "Tell the others I say goodnight!"

"Definitely, bro!" Franky gave him a thumbs up, then everyone watched him leave.

Zoro stood up and glanced furtively at Sanji once again. Part of him wanted to punch himself in the face for what he had told Sanji – he'd never said anything like that to him before, so it must have hurt him greatly. But Sanji couldn't always just get away with everything, could he?

He didn't have much time to ruminate on Sanji's shenanigans any further, because Nami, Vivi and Usopp reappeared from the club with everyone's bags and stuff.

"Here, hopefully we got everything." Usopp sighed as he placed the bags on the concrete of the sidewalk.

"Thanks, buddy." Ace smiled softly and clapped a hand on Usopp's shoulder, then bent over to grab a hoodie from his bag.

"We're gonna go," Nami jerked a thumb over her shoulder, then furrowed her eyebrows as she looked around "where's Brook?"

"He left already," Luffy shouldered the case of his bass, then added "he says goodnight."

At last it came back to Zoro that he was supposed to tell them about Kidd's offer before he forgot again and everyone left.

His eyes focused briefly on Sanji who was struggling to take off his boots in order to wear a pair of jeans over his stockings and pull down the skirt he'd been sporting all night, this time Zoro wasn't going to get distracted by anything Sanji said or did.

"Before you all go," Zoro began, and every head turned in his direction, except Sanji's of course which remained low and concentrated on what he was doing. "When I was speaking to Kidd he proposed something to me."

"Ohhh, you're getting married?" Usopp exclaimed "That's really sweet!"

"Shut up, Usopp." Zoro glared daggers at Usopp who bravely hid behind Franky. "Kidd asked me if we'd like to accompany them in a couple of their tour dates... As their opening act." Zoro finished and folded his arms over his chest "What do you think?"

Everyone except Sanji stared at him wide-eyed and Zoro didn't know how he was supposed to take it, until finally someone spoke up.

"An opening act for Freakshow?" Ace huffed and spread his arms "Dude, they're like the real deal already! I say we do it!"

An excited choir of yeahs followed, and Zoro could let out a relieved breath.

"I can't believe they actually asked that!" Nami started, both eyebrows drawn together in thought "I mean I know they've seen us before but..." she shrugged "I just didn't expect them to do something like that."

"Well we're different but can both kick major asses," Luffy cut in "it's only fair to join forces!" he beamed, then let out a small chuckle.

"Well they like us," Zoro hunched his shoulders "especially _one_ of us," he said as he tried to not so subtly look at Sanji who was zipping up his jacket "and they want us on board. That's as much as we need to know, and what _really_ counts."

"We should celebrate this _super_ news!" Franky suggested with a clap of his big hands.

"We definitely should!" Vivi agreed and Nami turned to look at her with the biggest grin before pressing a kiss to her lips.

"Whoa whoa! Get a room!" Usopp waved his hand, then laughed.

All the while, as everyone burst into excited comments or cheerful laughter, Zoro couldn't help but notice how Sanji was silent and listless. He'd definitely hurt his feelings, he knew just as much and couldn't help but feel bad about it, even if he'd somehow deserved it, or at least that was what Zoro still firmly thought.

"Hey..." Zoro began, and Sanji's head slowly lifted in his direction "You gonna join us?" he nodded in the direction of the others. He would have wanted to say more, wanted to be more convincing without sounding desperate or annoying, but he wasn't sure how. "You're our singer, you should come with us." was all he could manage, and in that moment he wanted to punch himself in the face really hard.

Sanji shook his head "I've already told you, I'm not coming. There's nothing to celebrate." he lifted his bag and slung the strap over his shoulder "Uh, guys?" he called out to get everyone's attention "I'm gonna go. Have fun." and with those words he lifted his hand, then turned around to leave.

"What?" Luffy stared at Sanji's back outraged "It's a big deal, come back! We gotta celebrate!" then when he saw that the singer didn't stop, nor turned his head he called out for him at the top of his lungs "Sanji!"

The blond finally stopped, rooted on the spot, and he turned with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth "Maybe tomorrow, alright?" he rubbed the back of his neck "I'm tired and I'd rather not go out drinking."

Luffy's frown deepened, but he nodded his head "Maybe we could give you a ride home?" he glanced towards Ace.

"Yeah, it wouldn't be a problem." Ace nodded.

Sanji shook his head "It's fine, really. Go have fun, guys." he saluted them and resumed walking away.

Zoro wasn't sure whether Sanji would have actually gone home, maybe he was going to find someone that would brighten up the rest of his night and lighten up his mood.

"What's wrong with him?" Vivi asked, her lower lip tucked between two rows of perfectly white teeth.

Nami shot Zoro a half-hearted glare, then shook her head "He's just sulking because of the argument he had with his boyfriend." she sighed.

"I'm not his boyfriend!" Zoro roared. He could feel his cheekbones and ears warming up all of a sudden. God, couldn't she just shut up about these things?

"Oh but you wish." Nami cocked an eyebrow and Ace, Usopp and Luffy had to literally slap a hand over their mouths to keep quiet.

"I'll kill you! Shut up!" Zoro growled, then started walking in a random direction "Let's just go!"

"Zoro, our car is in the opposite direction..." Ace bit his lower lip and Luffy and Usopp mercilessly bursted out laughing.

At that point Zoro's face was so red and hot that it could have been used as a warmth supply for a small country.

The celebration wasn't crazy, nor did it last for hours on end since everyone was busy the day after.

Zoro hadn't planned to get drunk, but the uncomfortable feeling of jealousy mixed with guilt and a sprinkle of anger that had settled on his stomach as heavy as a rock didn't exactly help out his case. He didn't get monstrously hammered, but he stumbled on his way out of the club and into the car and slept throughout the entire ride.

Once they had parked into the front yard of the house, Luffy and Ace had done their best to pull Zoro out of the car and forced him to stand on his own legs and make it through the front door. His knees almost gave out when he was stirred in the direction of the kitchen, and complained like a child as he was pushed down to sit on a chair while Ace made him some coffee and Luffy poured him a huge glass of water.

"I don't want coffee, and I won't–" Zoro grimaced, his eyelids as heavy as iron and his mind on the verge of giving in to sleep "...drink water." he tried to rest his elbow on the table but missed it twice before actually succeeding, then he dropped his chin into his hand.

"Yes you will, it's good for you." Luffy explained and took Zoro's free hand to wrap his fingers around the glass "Go on, drink."

Zoro hummed and kept his eyes firmly shut. He was too tired for that, why were his brothers so damn restless?

"Drink your water or I'll pour it on your head." Luffy threatened him, his tone as serious as ever.

"You wouldn't dare." Zoro muttered, barely parting his lips to speak.

"Don't challenge him." Ace sighed.

Zoro didn't hear anything anymore, he wasn't sure if he had completely fallen asleep but one thing he knew for sure. He had heard a splash and then a horrible feeling of cold and wetness washed over him, jerking him awake and making him rear back so hard and suddenly that he nearly fell backwards with the whole chair. He could barely breathe both from the shock and the cold, but he had one thing very clear in his mind.

"You're fucking dead!" Zoro growled, and Luffy sprung to his feet and jolted out of the kitchen as fast as lightning, laughing like an idiot.

"No, no, no! Don't! Our folks will kill us!" Ace cried out as he caught Zoro just before he could charge in Luffy's direction.

"I'm fucking soaked! Shit!" Zoro shouted, and Ace pressed both his hands over his brother's mouth.

"Shhh!" Ace hushed him, pure horror painted his face "Did you not hear a word I said? If we wake them up we'll definitely be dead!" he hissed, then removed his hands from Zoro's lips "It's nearly 2 in the damn morning!"

Zoro tried to even out his breathing, his chest heaving like mad in the wake of his outburst, but he did slowly come down from it.

"You guys are such bullies." Zoro finally commented as he ran his fingers through his wet mohawk.

Ace scowled "We aren't," he grumbled "don't compare us to those who made your childhood hell."

Zoro rolled his eyes "You're not like them," he precised, then added "but you can definitely give me hell."

Ace grinned "That's what brothers are for." then a bubbling sound came from behind him as the coffee boiled into the moka pot. "Are you sure you don't want that coffee?" Ace cocked his head slightly.

Zoro sighed and sat back down in defeat. It would have definitely been better to go to sleep without feeling like the undead, after all.

Zoro went to sleep at 2:15 and as soon as he hit the pillow he was completely dead to the world, not even a cannon shot or an earthquake would have waken him up. Or so he thought.

Zoro's phone buzzed at least three times with different text messages, and none of those times he opened an eye.

Around the fifth text he blinked his eyes open, then groaned when the light of his mobile phone screen blinded him.

"F'ck off..." he moaned sleepily and turned his head to the other side.

A sixth and a seventh message were sent, then the phone started vibrating insistently with a call, but Zoro pulled the duvet over his head and kept sleeping through the noise.

Eight, nine, ten texts. One more call, and Zoro finally woke up with a groan and a string of colorful curses, and grabbed his phone.

"Two missed calls and ten texts?" Zoro stared at the screen in a mix of horror and confusion, then began to check the texts from the latest.

_'you're a fuckface omg'_

_'thats not how a best friend acts'_

_'ffs answer the phone'_

_'thats it im callin u'_

_'cmon moss brain reply'_

_'dont ignore me'_

_'no srsly i need u to answer to this'_

_'marimo am i good enough? do u think im a good singer or am i just a fucking slut?'_

_'i mean, u guys are all so talented but then there's me with my mediocre singing and fuck i dont think im good enough. zeffs right im just a stupid eggplant with a stupid shitty dream'_

_'marimo... do u think we would have been asked by freakshow to play with them even if i didnt sleep with law? i mean we're fucking great aren't we?'_

Zoro's heart skipped a beat, then began to race in his chest. He didn't even know if he should have been annoyed by Sanji's behavior, but the first three texts were a clear cry for help and Zoro couldn't ignore him anymore.

"What the fuck, it's nearly 5..." Zoro burrowed his face into the pillow as he gathered the energy necessary to call Sanji, then he pressed the green handset button on the screen of his phone and waited.

"Took you a fucking while." Sanji's voice was kind of shaky and Zoro immediately furrowed his brows.

"I was sleeping, dumbass. What's goin' on?" Zoro croaked out. He really wished he were still sleeping.

"You read the texts?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know." Sanji's voice cracked slightly.

Zoro scowled at the odd sound of Sanji's voice "Have you been crying?"

"Fuck off!"

Zoro sighed "Just askin', don't get your panties in a twist."

"I actually _am_ wearing panties."

Zoro squeezed his eyes shut and thanked God for being too tired to get a boner. "Are you regretting what you've done?"

"A straight answer, goddamn muscle brain!" Sanji barked from the other side of the phone.

"Screech like a damn vulture again and I swear to Christ I'll hang up." Zoro deadpanned.

"I'll kill you."

"Go to sleep, Cook."

"No, no, no!"

Zoro smirked, then sucked in a deep breath and sighed out his answer "You're a halfwit, but you're a good singer." some moments of silence followed those words, and Zoro thought that Sanji had probably hung up on him until be actually spoke again.

"Fuck you, I'm not an idiot! And you're just saying that 'cause you wanna sleep."

Zoro rolled his eyes and let out a long and annoyed moan "Yes, indeed! I wanna sleep!"

"See? That's why I hate you and you're a horrible best friend!" Sanji half whined.

Had Sanji been standing in front of him, Zoro would have probably strangled him "Where are you, anyway?"

"I'm home, asshole. You're the actual halfwit here!"

Zoro's eyebrow quirked up. There were two options: either Sanji had been with someone and only later he'd gone back home, or he'd really walked all the way back home after the Metal Mayhem. "And you haven't slept at all? Not a minute, 'cause you were kicking yourself for the Trafalgar thing?" he rarely voluntarily poked his nose into Sanji's business, but certain situations called for it.

There was more silence, then the hushed sound of a few ragged breaths reached Zoro's ear.

"I've tried sleeping, didn't work out. I kept tossing and turning, and torturing my brain." Sanji explained in this soft, almost childish voice.

Zoro was done for, but couldn't show it. "You're a good singer, Cook. You're mostly dumb and annoying, but you're the core of our band." Zoro let his eyes fall shut and rubbed at his tired eyelids as he lay on his back. "Murder Of Crows is your baby as much as it is mine."

Sanji let out a small huff of laughter, then Zoro heard him sniffle softly before saying "We're good parents, right?"

Zoro snorted, a smile spreading on his lips "We are... After all." then his tone turned more serious as he added "But please, believe in your parenting skills more, alright? You don't need to hire and fuck a babysitter, yeah?"

Sanji finally gave in to laughter "Shut up, you dumbass."

"You gonna sleep now?"

"You really can't wait to hang up on me, can you? Jerk."

Zoro sighed "We both need to sleep. We've got work in the morning, you might accidentally crawl into an oven."

"You fucking wish, huh?"

Zoro sniggered "Sometimes."

Sanji let out an outraged gasp "You bitch!"

"Goodnight, Cook."

"Night asshole Marimo, don't choke in your sleep."

"I'll try." Zoro waited for Sanji to hang up first, then finally set the cellphone back onto the nightstand.

He stared up at the ceiling for a good couple of minutes and realized that something had definitely moved inside Sanji, maybe what he had done with Law and the fight back at the Colosseum had changed some things. Or maybe Zoro was just trying to convince himself because it made him feel better, because it started raising some hope.

"I just need to sleep." Zoro whined to himself and flipped on his stomach, burying his face into the pillow and trying to give in completely to sleep.

_**To be continued...**_

* * *

_**A/N**_**:** The band _Freakshow_ is inspired for looks and sound to _Deathstars_.


End file.
